Experience
by Austin Jade
Summary: List of experiences by Batman and Wonder Woman. Eventual BMWW. Reviews and Flames are welcome. T for safety...and cause it's a sweet rating. Updated to Chapter X: It's Cold Outside.
1. Respect, Remorse, Redemption

Ey'yo, so I'm, yet again, spreading my works into other areas. I'm still continuing my main GX fic (but, due to circumstances involving the site, beyond my control, I've hit a little setback…). But, anyways, this, here's going to be a series of Batman/Wonder Woman fics/drabbles, usually delving into their 'firsts' together. Most will probably involve some type of feeling, eventually evolving into romance. I'll try to stay in chronological order, but I'm also alternating between the two (Who knows? Maybe if I/you feel I'm good enough, I'll write more than just drabble/ficlets). The first one goes to….Princess Diana!! crowd cheers

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Respect, Remorse, and Redemption**

Diana stood erect, slightly annoyed, as her colleagues decided to perform a sneak approach into the outpost that stood before them. One, J'onn J'onnz, had disappeared several minutes before, supposedly scouting the area for an opening into the building of some sort, when she knew she could just as easily have created one, right in front of them.

The other one, known to her only as Batman, stood in a crouched position in front of her, peering out from behind the ruins they were currently veiled by with a pair of binoculars, they called them, zooming in at certain areas, checking out the patrols, and, obviously, trying to think up a plan to sneak through. She watched him carefully and let her mind wander momentarily, allowing her to mull over the past few hours

The man in front of her was a mystery. Of course, there were many unknown objects, places, people, and ideas, now that she had left her home of Themyscira, but this person had especially piqued her interest. When they had met only hours ago, after the battle against alien spacecraft, she had wondered where this person was, and why he hadn't helped them fend off the enemy forces.

It quickly became clear to her, however, that this man - this BATman - had no super powers to speak of, yet still was grouped with the other six of them. That wasn't what had enticed her interest in him, though. It was the respect he seemed to have been given _despite_ not having any powers to speak of. All the others, even the one called Superman, who seemed to be the most revered by the other four's actions, seemed to value Batman's opinion of what should be done. Of course, she hadn't been asked much, herself, during their meeting, but it was understandable. She was new, knowing very little of whom they were fighting and whom they were fighting to protect. She realized, then, that she had no knowledge of things outside of her home island.

However, when the one in front of her, Batman, spoke up, every was quiet, and seemed to listen intently. She mused on how one, with nothing extraordinary besides his equipment, could demand such respect just by being present there. He did have a certain aura about him, about how he carried himself, but all she could feel was something that seemed to scream out 'intimidation', though she would have none of it. She was not only a warrior of Themyscira's Amazons, but their princess. She would not have some human male try to intimidate her.

And yet…the respect he was shown made her a tiny jealous. Sure, she didn't have the friendship of anyone there, as she knew no one else, but she was still there to help out, leaving her home, and, most likely, getting disowned or banished by her mother, should she ever return. And yet she wasn't getting thanked. She shrugged it off as her mind still working in its 'princess' mode. She was part of a team now, surely they respected her as much as she did them, correct?

"Something on your mind, Princess?" Batman gruffly stated, his eyes never leaving the binoculars. Diana jumped in surprise slightly. It was the first time he had ever spoken to her, directly, and his quiet nature made it seem like he wasn't one who would start up a conversation.

"Nothing, really," she replied, trying to be nice. "Just waiting for you to give me the signal."

"What signal?" Batman inquired incredulously.

"To go attack, obviously." Diana was somewhat flabbergasted that she even needed to state that. "Surely, you realize I could defeat them myself?"

"We're not here to cause a ruckus, we're here to shut down this factory," Batman told her, lowering his binoculars "Fighting meaningless battles should be avoided whenever possible, especially when they outnumber us like they do."

Diana couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You think I can't do it?" she fiercely wondered.

Batman seemed quite disinterested in the squabble, which did little to improve Diana's mood. "I don't really care if you can or can't, we'll wait for J'onn to return."

"Hiding like cowards is not the Amazon way!" she retorted. Why couldn't he see that the few guards stationed here were mere targets for her to eliminate?

"They must have a weakness," Batman replied, peering around the corner to check for anything he could have missed in his deliberations. "When we find it, we'll strike."

As if on cue, J'onn suddenly came up from the ground, revealing himself. His face seemed grim. "I have scouted the outer walls." He shook his head to confirm, "There are no openings."

Diana, figuring it was her chance to prove her colleague wrong, declared, "Then we'll make our own!" She flew towards the building, half-expecting one of them to stop her, but was slightly surprised when neither came behind her. She flew through a trio of the guards, knocking them down, and whipped out her lasso. She threw it around the legs of the giant three-legged walked, and flew through the loop a second before it constricted around the machine's leg. She sped around the creature several times, before flying up and tightening the knot.

"Hera…!" she muttered. "Give me strength…!" As if on cue, Diana clasped the three legs together, sending the machine careening towards the building. A loud crash and a few moments later, an opening in the side of the wall was revealed.

Diana stood on the creature's leg, smirking at the two, particularly Batman, and stated, "There's your opening." She swiftly flew into the opening, seconds before seeing a squad of guards firing at her. She dropped to the ground to dodge a flurry of projectiles, before deflecting those that could prove fatal away with her gauntlets. They struck a few of the soldiers, dropping the number slightly.

She heard the other two finally arrive behind her, and deflected a few more beams, before the group in front of them retreated. "They run like cowards," she announced, turning to her comrades, "what are you waiting for!?" And she sped off after them.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

About forty-five minutes later, Diana found herself in another pickle. She had just raced around a corner after they had defeated several guards, only to find fifteen to twenty more waiting for the three of them. This was at least the fourth time it had occurred, and she knew, despite not wanting to admit it, that she was running out of options and time.

She backed around the corner after deflecting a trio of bolts, one striking down one of the opponents, and turned to the other two. "They blocked us off again!" she cried.

Batman reached for his belt and withdrew one of his 'Batarangs'. "It's almost as if they know what we're thinking," he analyzed coolly, priming his explosive, and sending it towards the group of enemies. It exploded upon contact with the ground-like bridge, taking out about a third of their opponents as well as dispersing their ranks.

"Any ideas, J'onn," Batman stated calmly, almost more like a demand than a question, keeping an eye out for any more adversaries. When the Martian didn't respond, he turned around, inquisitively. "J'onn?"

The eyes of the Martian dimmed back to a dark-yellow, as he grimly informed them, "Superman and Hawkgirl are down." He lowered his head. "They have failed."

"What?" Diana gasped. She turned to her black-caped comrade and noticed a twinge out of the corner of Batman's mouth and wondered if that's as close to emotional as he got. "Are you sure?" she wondered, half-unbelieving, half-wishing against it.

J'onn nodded. "I can sense it," he said.

His eyes began to grow eerily again for a moment, before he gestured to a corridor behind Diana. "This way. Hurry!" he told them. The trio began to speed down the passageway as the door where they had just been fighting sealed behind them. The trio whirled around a corner, as a door opened behind them. They didn't need to turn to know who it was and laser beams fired past them as if to stem any doubt they had.

They entered a large hallway, with a door about twenty feet above them. Diana and J'onn flew up to the top of the platform, while Batman took out his grappling hook and fired it at the ceiling just above the doorway. Just as Diana turned around, realizing Batman wouldn't have been able to fly up to them and wondering if he'd need help, the Dark Knight had already deftly landed next to her, placing his instrument back onto his belt.

She glanced down at the slimy aliens, and ducked away as a barrage of blaster fire sped towards her. She raced after the two other beings down the narrow passage and after a few more twists, stalled for a second, peering around a corner.

"We lost them," she breathed, somewhat relieved that they were all still in one piece.

"For the moment," the Caped Crusader noted quietly. Diana turned to what she deemed as the pessimist, as he held an object in his hand. He slid it onto his gloved hand, and it began to emit some electricity.

"Look," the Martian mentioned. The cowl-wearing hero turned to where J'onn was waiting for them and hurried over to them, gently beckoning Diana to follow. They froze on either side of their companion, as he pointed up towards the extremely high. The two others noticed a rather large transparent red mass floating around near some of the creatures that had invaded Earth. They seemed to be monitoring the mass. "It's the central core," J'onn informed them, before they could question about it.

Batman turned to the green-skinned being. "How can we shut it down?" He inquired flatly.

The Martian again gestured in the direction of the red mass, only more directly to its center. "The Ion-Matrix Crystal," he mentioned, as the two noticed the floating red rock bob up and down in its stasis field. "If we can remove that, we'll shut down the entire plant."

Batman began withdrawing a Batarang from his belt, as J'onn noted, "I'll need a distraction."

"Done," the black-caped man stated, flinging his projectile a what appeared to be a pipeline. It sliced through the leathery pipe like butter and began spewing out some black, foul-smelling liquid onto a pair of 'engineers' only yards away from the crystal. The rest of the alien crew in the room turned to where the object had flown from.

J'onn had already disappeared through the floor and Diana was drawing upon her strength, tearing off another similar looking pipe. This one, however, began releasing a brown gas, similar to what the plant had been spreading into the atmosphere.

The smoke provided some cover from above, but below was a different matter. The aliens were already converging on the two warriors, causing the duo to counterattack. Diana reflected a series of bolts sent their way, while Batman glided down to the enemies aiming at them. He sliced a kick at one, knocking him down, while using the object he had placed over his hand earlier to send a shockwave through the other one.

As the warrior fought against another group of adversaries, Diana realized that this Batman, while not one that could out-muscle the likes of her or Superman or even J'onn, had his own style of fighting and ferocity that would make any Amazon proud. Not to mention he had a strong mind and great instincts, he almost moved as if he were water, so fluid, graceful, and powerful.

He suddenly turned to her and frowned slightly, letting another Batarang fly in her direction. She gasped in surprise as it skimmed just above her shoulder and struck the alien that had been sneaking up behind her.

She suddenly felt very foolish to have been distracted so easily by him, and expected him to berate her. Instead, she was shocked when he called, "Are you alright?" Surprised that she wasn't getting mocked or yelled at, she merely nodded.

She immediately spun around and took out the group that had been waiting for their comrade to strike and, almost instantly knocked half of the group of the ledge. A shot suddenly rang out above her, and she raised her gauntlet in its direction, but realized it wasn't her that was getting shot when a painful groan rang out. A few platforms above her, J'onn dropped with the Crystal only a few feet to the side of him.

"J'onn!" she cried in concern, knocking the two aliens standing next to her away from her and flying through the one in front of her towards her fallen ally.

She helped raise him up a bit, then heard more battling going on behind her. Almost forgetting about Batman, she whirled around, hoping he hadn't met a similar fate, yet. Relieved, he was still battling, though the numbers against him were great.

She was about to go over to help the Dark Knight, when, as if reading her thoughts, he shouted, "Get him out!" She paused for a moment as, what appeared to be a cut, left a trail of blood over the black-caped hero's lip and down his chin, as he grabbed the appendage of an opponent from behind him. He thrusted up with the lightning-weapon on his hand and flung the creature on top of another opponent just ahead of him.

He turned back to see if they had left, to see that she hadn't moved. He scowled viciously at her. "**NOW!!**" he ordered.

This seemed to snap the Amazon back into reality. She picked up the fallen warrior in her arms and raced towards a door that had begun to close. She glanced behind her to see that Batman had already begun to make his move, leaving a smoke bomb behind him and swinging towards her with his grappling hook. He picked up the Crystal and flew behind them. Silently thanking the gods that they were all safe, she forged ahead through the doorway. She skidded to a halt and looked up behind her to see that the door was nearly shut.

Batman was still several yards away from the exit. "Batman!" she cried, as the door sealed in on itself. She heard a few grunts from the other side, realizing that he was trying to pound his way through, though she knew in her heart of hearts it wouldn't do any good. Not with a normal human's strength.

She began to head back to the doorway when a series of laser fire began to pound against the doorway, even pushing against it. All was then silent. "NO!!" Diana screamed. She began to head to the door even faster when J'onn appeared in front of her. "Stop!" he told her. "There's nothing more we can do for him."

"You don't mean he's…" Diana's voice got caught in her throat. It couldn't possibly be true.

J'onn somberly nodded, "…Gone."

Diana lowered her head and for the first time in her life felt the urge to cry. She didn't know why. She had experienced sadness, before, but never like this. Of course, she had never experienced death in her life before, either. Her race was an immortal one. Sure, they had people banished or leave the island once or twice, but they always were still alive. It was the first time she had ever truly lost someone, even if it was only someone she had known for barely a few hours. She felt as if she had failed her friends, especially the one who had just perished.

'No,' she told herself, forcing back the urge of tears. 'This is not something an Amazon should do. Not in the face of a death of a warrior.' She silently sent off the hero to the Underworld and muttered, "Hera, help us."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Green Lantern and The Flash finally appeared after what seemed like forever. As she saw them approach, Diana noticed how bored and annoyed she was by waiting. She faintly wondered if she was the type of person who always had to be doing _something_. She shook her head and calmed herself. The last time she raced ahead without more than a little planning, they lost a fellow warrior._

_J'onn shifted. "You know that he wouldn't blame you for what happened to him," he stoically informed her. Diana gasped slightly, then remembered that J'onn was a telepath. He glanced at her with a look that told her that he was sorry for peeking without permission._

_She smiled at the alien encouragingly. "I know," she muttered. "Thanks, J'onn."_

_Green Lantern drifted down to them, just as Flash sped up the building and appeared on the opposite side of the two. "Sorry we're late," he told them. "We had to help out some civilians."_

_Flash, with something between an inquisitive and annoyed look, asked, "Why did you call us back here?"_

_Diana stepped in front of them towards the enormous factory ahead of them and motioned to it. It looked like the other outposts they had attacked earlier, but this one seemed even larger than those, as if it were the command center. "Superman and Hawkgirl have been captured," she explained. "They're being held somewhere in that building."_

_Flash approached the building in a stunned silence, only able to breath in awe of the giant complex. He looked back at them, silently questioning if they were serious. Diana nodded at him, confirming that they were entering the building. John Stewart, the resident Green Lantern, spoke up, then. "What about Batman?" he inquired._

_Diana closed her eyes and lowered her head slightly, feeling that emotion of sorrow once again rear its ugly head, but able to hold back the tears for her fallen comrade once again. J'onn, noting that Diana needed a moment away from her, answered for her. "He acted heroically…to the very end."_

_Flash's jaw dropped instantly. "The Bats gone…!?" he croaked remorsefully. He looked away at the building, causing Diana thought for a moment if he was going to lose it, as well. She reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, but froze when she noticed he was grinding his teeth in anger. He seemed primed for action against the invaders._

_Diana decided, instead, to give her opinion. A 'eulogy', as she was told it was called. Feeling herself more composed, now, she announced, "He was a true warrior."_

_John, however, didn't like the fact they were now down half a team and growled, "This is NOT good." He lowered his voice, so as not to let the others hear his concern, though Diana still could hear it. "Definitely not good."_

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Diana felt her head throb fiercely, as she vaguely heard a pair of friendly voices echo through the recesses of her mind. "J'onn….J'onn wake up!" one stated. She desperately began to dig forward, closer to the sound.

A low grunt, which she assumed to be the Martian, then followed. Another grunt followed the first, before the alien groaned, "Superman…" telling her who the first voice belonged to.

"You shouldn't have risked your lives for us," Superman told their comrade, though Diana, even in her weakened state, could tell it was more of an apology than a reprimand.

Diana slowly opened her eyes, blinking her vision into view, as J'onn answered, "Would you have done any less for me?" She noticed that Superman and the alien had their forearms and their legs below their knees sealed into the ground of the platform they were on. She struggled a bit, before realizing it was futile. The ground was too compact and took up too much of her limbs to get enough strength into them.

Diana heard another groan on the far side of the green being. She glanced around the two heroes to see Flash connected to the ground beneath him in the same manner. The princess then glanced behind her to see that Green Lantern and Hawkgirl were also ensnared into the ground. "Oh…my aching head…" Flash grimaced.

Footsteps could be heard approaching ahead of them and the group turned their heads towards the sound. One of the slimy aliens appeared in front of them. "Earth's mightiest heroes," the voice sneeringly echoed. Its form then began to shift. The body and limbs soon began to turn brown and evolved into a suit. The appendages slowly shifted into hands and fingers and the blob hat seemed to make his head formed into a dashing blonde-haired face with hard features. He smirked deviously at the group. "Welcome."

"Senator Carter…" Superman gaped. His brow furrowed in disgust.

The fake human chuckled maliciously. "Unfortunately," he venomously began, "the real 'Carter' never returned from Mars."

Superman growled. "And you used me to weaken Earth's defenses!" he shot back.

The 'man' shrugged, continuing his cackling. "But you were so eager to cooperate," he informed him. He leveled his stare to the red-caped hero. "Thanks to you the humans were totally helpless against us." He bowed slightly in gratitude, but Diana noted that even his bow emanated arrogance and offensive.

Superman scowled in response. "It's not over yet…" he murmured in anger.

The man shook his head, like an instructor correcting a student. "Wrong, again, Superman," he gestured with his hand up to the ceiling, which immediately opened up, revealing that the sky had disappeared under a thick smog. Lightning pierced the clouds above. Diana could make out an object that seemed to be moving in front of the lightning. For a moment, appeared like some type of plane, but as it approached, she could tell it was more of a spacecraft.

A smaller shuttle lowered beneath the massive command ship, racing towards their position. The ominous feeling that had been building slowly crept up to her neck and the Amazon suddenly found that the air had become thick with malice, making it difficult to take full breaths.

The drop ship landed into the hangar, if it could be called that. Almost instantly, the fake Carter turned and smirked at the group of heroes, before turning back to the ship. "All hail…The Imperium!" All of the aliens bowed in reverence at the waist to what turned out to be the entrance to the shuttle, as something depressurized inside it. A burst of smoke covered the area, as something dropped out. Diana couldn't make it out and, though she knew it was inevitable, she got the feeling she never wanted to.

When the smoke had dispersed, it revealed a giant…mass is the only thing she could describe it. It was a massive purple blob of mass, including several tentacles that slithered out from what the princess presumed to be the 'body'. It began to glide towards them, though it seemed, and she didn't know how she could tell, more focused on the Martian in their group. She turned towards her comrade to see that his face was firm and emotionless. She didn't know if that unnerved her more than the creature slowly moving towards them.

Suddenly, a voice that seemed to vibrate from within the bowels of her mind shook the core of her being. It felt like her head was slowly being ripped apart. "J'onn J'onnz…" the creation's voice gurgled. "It's been a long time."

A tentacle seemed to motion in his general direction and, at it's command, the ground lifted the hero up towards the platform and dropped him a few feet from the Imperium. After a few moments where the two aliens stared each other down, the giant pinkish-purple mass signaled with its tentacle towards the Martian. The two nearest aliens revealed some type of pole arm and began to advance on the motionless hero. They both, then, stabbed the blue-caped individual, sending a thousands of volts into her colleague's body.

J'onn howled out in pain as the group watched. She had to close her eyes a few times from the bright light of the electricity and resisted the urge to turn her head from witnessing the pain of another of her comrades. The Martian's shape-shifting ability then failed, as his features then became more alien, with its cone-shaped head reappearing in view.

After a few moments, the aliens withdrew their weapons, leaving J'onn to sway and quiver in pain, as he dropped to the floor. The skin on the Martian seared in obvious pain and smoked tumbled off his prone form. "Much better," the Imperium stated, causing Diana's mind to, once again, feel her mind become filled with pressure that threatened to cause her skull to burst. "You have defied us for centuries."

J'onn slowly shook his head and picked himself up from the ground, for the first time showing that he despised the creature. "And I will never bow before you or any of your kind!" he defiantly declared.

"Then, we shall, personally, see to it to finish what should have been accomplished long ago," the Imperium cooed. "The elimination of the last Martian." Several tentacles suddenly extended and shot into J'onn's arm and chest, slowly creeping through his body and to his skull.

J'onn tried to resist screaming out, again, but the slithering arms soon reached his head and slowly began to pull the Martian towards the putrid mass. Inside the brain-like creature, electricity flowed into the friendly alien's body through the tentacles still attached to the hero. Diana could hear the echoes of J'onn's cries through the body of the blob and saw her friend squirm when the electricity shined bright enough to reveal the shadow of her comrade.

She couldn't take it anymore. She had already lost one of her friends due to her helplessness, she couldn't bear to lose another. She closed her eyes, although the Imperium was showing the torture through her mind's eye. Suddenly, a voice, different from everyone's present, quietly echoed in her mind. "They must have a weakness. When we find it, we'll strike."

She gasped, opened her eyes, and turned her head in a few different directions. She noticed that no one else seemed to have heard it, or if they did they weren't responding. 'It…couldn't be…!' she mused. 'I must be imagining things.' But even though she wouldn't believe that Batman was alive at the moment, she admittedly felt comforted, even if slightly, by hearing the man's voice. She decided she would honor her friends passing, by waiting till the bitter end with determination. Possibly even wait for their 'weakness' to reveal itself.

Superman growled, as his anger boiled at his friend's pain. Diana realized this must have pained him the most, as he was the strongest of them and was still helpless to do anything. "Let go of him you filthy…!" He stalled to try to struggle out of his bonds, but it was futile.

Diana felt the Imperium smile within her mind, before it stated, "Kneel, to us, J'onn J'onnz."

The Martian squirmed, grunted, seemingly trying to do everything in his power to break free of the grip of his enemy. "N…Never!" he cried, through his pain-filled howls.

The Imperium seemed intrigued by the resistance of his prey. "Why do you resist the truth? Embrace it. After all these years, you have finally lost." Another charge was sent through the body of its captive.

J'onn fell limp for a moment after the shock, suddenly making the Amazon that he had finally passed. But the facial features on the Martian change, into what Diana could only interpret of his best form of a defiant grin. "Have I?" he wondered cryptically.

"You're hiding something," the Imperium's voice boomed. "What is it, I wonder? Another one of your Martian tricks?" The mood of the creature changed, Diana noted, as well as insistent that the hero was being secretive. It answered…almost too quickly.

Feeling that he was winning the emotional battle, J'onn merely replied, "Do I sense fear?" But Diana was puzzled. What good was there to bluff, now? Did he really have something up his sleeve that even he didn't reveal to the others?

Another charge pierced through the alien's body, as the Imperium's voice roared even louder than it had ever done, as if it was trying to get information from the group of heroes still bound into the ground. "What are you hiding!?" he demanded.

The charge through the hero caused him to call out again, but it seemed as if it seemed more callous and shallow. For a moment, Diana wondered if this was the final moments for her green friend, when J'onn suddenly called out. "**NOW!!**"

An explosion rang out behind them, spewing bits of slime and debris outward from one of the pillars to the left and behind them. Smoke poured out from the pillar near the red mass that Diana, remembering from the last outpost they had infiltrated, was the Ion-Matrix Crystal.

The smoke soon began to separate from the pillar, and Diana immediately took notice that a black cape was flowing behind the person that was standing there. A wave of relief washed over her when the cowl revealed itself and the full body of Batman was standing atop near where the shield surrounded the Crystal.

"Batman…!?" Flash exclaimed in shock.

Diana, even though she was relieved, and had the suspicion that she wasn't dreaming from earlier, was still in awe of the hero. "It can't be…" She wondered if this is what it would feel like if she ever saw any of those banished from Themyscira ever again. If they had been under different circumstances, Diana wouldn't know if she could've restrained from at least showing some type of emotion, revealing how grateful she was that he was still alive.

"I mentally shielded him so he couldn't be detected," the Martian grimaced as he began to slowly muscle his way out of the Imperium's grip.

Batman slid his hand into the shield and placed something onto the crystal, which suddenly turned blue. The area around the shield also began to turn blue, and shortly thereafter, like a rush of water, the red spots along the pipeline soon began to shift into the blue color.

The fake Carter's eyes widened, followed by his stare becoming cold. "What have you done!?" he cried.

"Reversed the ion charge," the Crusader gruffly replied.

"The Crystal!" The Imperium cried. "Destroy it!"

Batman raised his grappling hook and shot it to the ceiling above, quickly escaping the array of bolts that pierced the area of the crystal and the ground the hero once stood. The laser weaponry wasn't strong enough to pierce the area around the crystal. "It's shielded…!?" Carter gasped.

Batman swung as the blue energy slowly overcame the red through the complex. The smog that was billowing from the factory was soon replaced by a massive blue beam that erupted from the pipes that jutted out of the top of the factory and pierced the smog in the sky. It broke through the clouds and the blue sky came into view. The dark brown clouds that had overtaken the horizon were swiftly disappearing revealing more and more sunlight.

The sunlight that had been blocked came into full view in the hangar. The aliens that had gathered at the edge of the platform soon began to rush away towards the shuttle that had brought the Imperium with it. Those that were unfortunate enough to not be quicker than the ever increasing sunlight disintegrated quickly, as if they were water without a glass to hold it.

J'onn finally burst forth from the Imperium and began dragging to alien mass further into the sunlight. "You live underground and shun the light!" he accused. "Why!? Does it burn your pale putrid skin!?" The mass began to bubble and gurgle in agony.

Diana was nearly unable to believe their source of luck, when Batman, the instigator of this sudden change in fortune, dropped in front of her to confirm this was no dream. He knelt down in front of Diana and reached for the back of his utility belt. "Ultraviolet rays," the Dark Knight explained. "Coming from the depths of space, they have no resistance to our sun's radiation." He began to drill the ground that had Diana trapped with some type of ray that began to dry the ground that held her. She slowly realized that the ground's strength came from the fact it was more mud than anything else.

Diana smiled and giggled light-heartedly. "So you did find their weakness, after all," she noted, breaking her arm free from the bonds that tied her to the ground. Batman quickly went to work on the other arm, when the Imperium shouted a command to eliminate them. "Not this time," she muttered to herself, wanting to prove she wasn't just a rookie. She wrapped her arm around the hero and blocked the laser bolt that would've struck Batman in the back.

Diana expected a 'Thank you', or some sort of acknowledgement but realized the hero hadn't even bothered to look up. She then realized that might have been a good thing, as it meant he trusted her enough to watch his back without even taking his eyes off his work. It was probably as close to subconscious gratitude she would get from him, and she felt more content about that than she think she would've gotten with an actual 'Thank you'.

She soon broke free her other arm and her legs, as one by one the other heroes freed themselves and slowly began to battle back against their adversaries. While Diana and Hawkgirl eliminated forces in the sky, the others took care of the ground troops. Slowly, but surely, the heroes were able to drive back the invaders, while annihilating the Imperium, to make sure this never happened again.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Diana stood on an overhang overlooking the city. She had been reminiscing quietly over what had transpired only a month before, and how much she grew that day. And, although she had trouble admitting it, Man's World did have its…own interesting lifestyle. Unlike on Themyscira, where everyone was female and had the same ideas for the most part, Man's World held many different people with different personalities, ideas, and talents.

A man stood beside her, deep in the shadows of the building, using a pair of binoculars to peer down below them, as they awaited for the opportune moment to strike against their foes. This time, they were waiting for a gang war to break out, or, if possible, stop it. Tips had lead them to the war starting somewhere in the area, but nothing out of the ordinary had shown itself, yet.

She watched Batman intently as he skimmed the surface, searching for some clue or tell that allowed him to discover any signs that one of the people down below might belong to one of the gangs involved. She instantly wondered how unpredictable this man actually was. Though she questioned others in the League, she hadn't found out much about him, other than he resided in Gotham City, when not in the Watchtower or on missions. She found him…intriguing.

"Something on your mind, Princess?" Batman's deep, gruff voice inquired. Diana was used to this by now. The two had only been on a few missions together, but the initial discussion they had had now become something of a tradition. So, she gave him the same answer whenever she was asked that question.

"Nothing, really," she said, smiling sweetly. "Just waiting for you to give me the signal."

Batman took down the binoculars and looked at her incredulously. He finally revealed a smirk to her and questioned further. "What signal?"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Alright, so it was longer than I wanted. And it wasn't even that original of an idea. But, this is pretty much how it's going to be: Take a scene from the series, retool it into one of the two's POV and run with it. I'll most likely add my own little bits for holidays or something like that, but…

Sorry for all you Wonder Woman lovers out there, I didn't want her to seem like a wimp, because she's not, but I wanted her to be emotional, somewhat of a foil to Batman, who is pretty stoic, most of the time (at least in uniform). However, I may have made her seem like she was kind of scared there, for a bit, but she wanted to prove herself, and nearly lost one of her comrades due to her over-eagerness. Reviews are welcome (including flames, if you so desire).


	2. Unpredictable

I'm back, baby. Ahem…I mean, welcome back to my series of drabbles/ficlets about Batman and Wonder Woman. So, since we've got a first impression of Batman for Wonder Woman, it's only fair to have a first impression of Wonder Woman from Batman, right? Right. Well, here it is: Enjoy!

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Unpredictable**

Faith.

It's a tender word to use, to be sure. It means believing in something, many times for something that you assume will be there for all time, or at least until something drastic happens. It means putting trust into whatever it is, accepting that, no matter what happens, that thing or person you put your faith in will always be there for you to count on.

And the only thing Bruce Wayne has ever put trust in before as Batman, was himself. He always was so sure of his opponents, of how they'd try to attack him. He'd even predicted everything anyone of the Justice League would react to any reply he gave them. He was always right.

At least, that's how it used to be. Lately, though, his detective skills seemed to have been going soft. Or maybe, it was just because he was too absorbed into the corruption of 'Man's World'.

'Man's World…?' he mused, picking up the group of cards that were dealt to him, 'I'm beginning to sound like the Princess, over there.' Yet another way she has influenced him, though it was mostly unwanted.

Or was it? Damn it all, he didn't know, anymore.

He glanced down at the cards in his hand, but his eyes never left the opponents at the table. 'Jack of Hearts, Two of Clubs, Nine of Diamonds, Four of Hearts, Two of Hearts,' he noted mentally. Sure, Poker wasn't exactly a game he was keen on playing. However, it did allow him to practice how to read people. To read between the lines. To recognize when the natural tells people gave. And the gods know that he had been needing more of that around Diana lately.

'The gods'? Crap. He did it again. Or rather, she did.

He raised his eyes slightly and peered around at the opponents sitting at the table To his left, Wally West, the Flash. He was always easy to read. Typical guy, reacted to good-looking women by drooling over them. Always attack first, ask questions later. Not much outsmarting anyone.

He did, however, have some good in him. He kept everyone in a decent mood, if it was only because his failed attempts were so laughable that they worked, in the end. He was reliable when he had to be…

"You've got to be kidding me…" he grumbled. His eyes widened. He had said that out loud, hadn't he? He glanced up from his cards and saw everyone giving him a strange look. "What…?" he growled, glaring venomously at them, the Batman shield fully powered, again. The others just shrugged and looked back down to their cards.

The next one, to his right, was John Stewart. A former army man, he was one who was more similar to Batman in that he'd rather sit back and attack when the time was right. He honored that quality in him as, although they needed frontline fighters, someone needed to be able to analyze the battle and the enemies' tactics besides himself, if he wasn't there. He still, however, couldn't out think the Bat.

"I'll take two," John stated, as he set two cards facedown on the table and slid them towards the middle. Diana picked up the top two cards and slid them in a similar manner to John. Batman kept his eyes on John through the entire exchange. Batman smirked when he noticed he hadn't lost his ability to look beneath the lines.

'His brow furrowed and his mouth twitched down,' he mentally noted. 'His breath also came out more like a quiet sigh. He obviously didn't get the cards he wanted. He set two down, as well, meaning he must have at least a pair and was hoping to pair his other card.'

Batman slid two of his cards down on the table. "Two for me, as well," he gruffly stated. He carefully made sure he had been doing the same thing he had been doing throughout the entire game, keeping an even breath and keeping his eyes across the table at the dealer. Diana carefully made sure she gave Batman his cards without seeing what they were underneath. She smiled at him as she handed him his cards. Batman returned it with a scowl.

That was another thing that Batman had been losing, his 'charming' scowl. At least, to Diana he had. Most times, when Batman wanted it known he didn't want to be bothered, all he had to do was show them his patented grim look, and anyone, even Superman, knew it was a sign that he was to be left alone. It was _normal_ for anyone to back away when he had that look. Hell, it was normal for most of those _not_ normal to leave him alone.

Diana, though, was far from normal.

Most men complained how they couldn't read normal women. He didn't understand why, as women were really only different because they let their emotions take over more frequently than most others. Sometimes so much that they'd play a game of 'cat-and-mouse' with each other, simply because they found it amusing. You just had to know when they decided they were the cat and when they were the mouse.

Diana never played those games. Matter of fact, she didn't act like _any _woman would in many occasions. That didn't mean to say she didn't know how to be feminine, when the time called for it, however.

The Amazon Princess continued to prod him even further after he continued to give her one of his stares. Today, it seemed, was no different. After realizing his frown wasn't working, he cocked an eyebrow for a reaction. All she did was widen her grin. Was she trying to outsmart him, make him over think the situation? Or is that just how she normally reacted to a person making it known that he or she was annoyed with her antics?

He decided it was the latter. She was from the island of Themyscira, a remote island near Greece inhabited only by women for…who knows how long she had been around. She hadn't been 'corrupted' yet, so her reactions to what would be the norm for everyone else might not have been the norm for her island. That was part of the reason he couldn't read her reactions as well.

After that first time they had been teamed up when the Imperium invaded earth, she had done something that he wouldn't have even predicted _he_ could do, should he was given the same choice. She left her home island paradise to go and assist the human world, even though there was no guarantee that their home paradise would have been invaded. He thought, originally, that she had been ordered there by the Amazons, in fear that the outcome of the battle might've had repercussions on those living on Themyscira. However, the fact she didn't immediately return home afterwards made him wonder if something else was going on. When they returned to help out the Amazons from forever being stone statues, his assumptions were proven correct.

She had left of her own free will, despite the wishes of her mother to remain home, to help out those who were in trouble. Not only that, but she decided, knowing the possible consequences, to allow her male friends to assist her in fighting off Hades, banishing him back to Tartarus. Her reward: permanent banishment from her home island by her own mother.

And Batman thought _he_ was cold.

Surprisingly, after releasing a few tears in front of her mother, she immediately composed herself, and led the group off the island. Extremely different, compared to the one who couldn't control her emotions during the Imperium invasion. It made him wonder where she had gotten that ability from.

He noticed that Flash had released a mild groan at the cards he had received from the Princess. It seemed John noticed, too, because he had grimly released a smirk, as well. Batman already presumed what he had, though. The only one left was Diana. She laid a card down and picked another one up gracefully. She glanced at the card, and suddenly bit her bottom lip. It seemed as if she was thinking…or didn't get what she wanted. She must have had a draw of some kind.

Bruce smirked. He had gotten the Jacks he wanted, and had a full house, now. Not much could beat him, and according to the other three's faces, certainly not anything they had, this hand.

John revealed his hand. "Pair of Aces, King high," he murmured, laying his hand down. He look mildly satisfied, though he had obviously hoped to pair one of the other cards, possibly catch another Ace.

Batman laid his hand down onto the table, getting a low whistle from John and Wally. "Three Jacks over Deuces," he triumphantly stated.

Wally's face fell again. He groaned loudly, but reluctantly revealed his hand. "Nothing much. Just a pair of fives." He set his cards down to confirm his statement.

All that was left was Diana. Bruce smirked as she laid her cards down, She revealed one Queen. Then two. Three. And finally…

"Four Queens," she sighed. The other three stared at her, mouths agape. John had his eyebrows cocked in shocked, looking from her hand to her. Flash just stared at her, then glanced at Batman. He looked at Green Lantern who looked back the speedster. They both reared back and laughed, loud and long.

"What…?" she wondered, "Didn't you guys say that Full House is one of the strongest hands in the game?"

"Yeah," Wally choked through his mirth. "But you just outsmarted the 'World's Greatest Detective'."

Diana pursed her lips. "I don't get what you mean."

John clamed down slowly. "Four-of-a-kind beats a full house, Princess," he smirked. He turned to Batman. "It looks like none of us can read her, eh?"

Batman scowled at him for a moment, before switching his gaze back to the deck. He smirked. 'One more try, wouldn't hurt,' he mused.

He grinned at the princess again. "Deal 'em," he demanded.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

About 12 hours later, Batman sat in the den he called home, scouring the news stations and website headlines in search of anything he could deem interesting as a clue to the whereabouts of some of his more common arch-enemies, as opposed to some of the irregular ones he had been facing lately, as a part of the League. No matter what anyone else said, Gotham would always be his first priority.

That didn't mean that didn't care about the rest of the world, however, as was apparent when a voice rang through the microphone that was linked directly to the Watchtower. "Batman, this is Wonder Woman. Are you there?"

Batman instantly flew to the glowing red button for the microphone, as Diana's visage appeared on his computer screen. "Batman, here. What's wrong?"

"Flash and Green Lantern were in Central City, but for some reason, it's vanished from all scanners," she calmly explained, though her tone did reveal her to be quite worried. He remembered how emotional she had been when she first came to help them destroy the Imperium and his minions and, though she had since learned to control her emotions much better, she still never did it fully. But then, she wouldn't be the Princess of Themyscira if she were calm all the time.

"Do you know the reason?" Batman inquired.

"There seems to be an energy signature emanating from the area where Central City _should_ be," J'onn J'onnz informed the Crusader, as his face appeared next to Diana's. "However, sensors indicate that the City disappeared without a trace. It's just not there, anymore."

Batman frowned. This day just seemed o be full of random moments. He began to rapidly press keys on his computer, connecting his computer with the readouts and sensors from the Watchtower's computer, bringing up the data that was in front of the trio at the Tower. 'How could an entire city that large just suddenly 'not be there anymore'?' he wondered, staring at the enormous blank circle where Central City had been moments before. "What about Lantern and Flash?"

"We tried to contact them, but there was no response," Hawkgirl told him, her head now visible, as well.

"Take _Javelin II_," Batman told them. "I'll keep searching for clues here. I'll call you if I find anything." The three faces disappeared from view, as the Bat's hands sped across his keyboard, searching for what could have happened to the missing city.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Javelin II sped through the night sky, dispersing the clouds it passed through, as its inhabitants kept their eyes ahead of them for any upcoming objects or figures._

_Wonder Woman sat in the co-pilot's seat as J'onn flew the aircraft. She glanced down at her scanners, to make sure they were flying in the right direction. The young woman was fairly fascinated by computers. As Batman had told her before, her eagerness to learn and the speed with which she did it were both extremely rare. The fact she now needed to use the computer as her eyes, however, made her feel quite a bit uneasy, even if she knew the computers were flawless, being designed by the Dark Knight, himself._

_"We're approaching Central City," she announced to her team members._

_"Or at least where it used to be," Hawkgirl quipped. She turned to look out the window. "See anything, yet?"_

_J'onn shook his head. "Negative," he informed her, before adding more quietly, "It's as if it never existed…"_

_A warning began blaring throughout the cockpit. Diana's brow furrowed at the warning, as she didn't understand why the signal was going off. "Proximity alert! 12 O'clock!" the princess shouted. She squinted forward to see what it was, exactly, that the computer saw that they didn't._

_J'onn gave a confused look to her. "I see nothing."_

_Diana felt her adrenaline begin to rush. Partly because the alarm was still roaring and partly because she had a sinking feeling that something imminently bad was about to happen. J'onn's emotionless reply didn't help to quell her anxiety. "Batman designed this ship," she told the Martian. "If his sensors say something is there--"_

_Before she could finish her statement, the ship collided with some invisible object, shaking the entire ship violently, and began to forcibly guide the craft away from its intended target. "Great Hera!" the Amazon cried, as the ship produced a shrill, spine-tingling scraping noise from the wing of the ship._

_Almost as soon as the ship had begun to shudder, it stopped, leaving the unprepared crew to launch in the direction from which they had come. The shuttle began to careen towards the ground, before J'onn regained his senses. He lunged for the controls and began to pull up, hard._

_The ship, however, wasn't as quick to respond to the stoppage and re-releasing of fuel so quickly, especially when battling gravity. "Hang on!!" J'onn hollered, as the two females braced themselves for an impact. J'onn, somehow, was able to turn the plane upward just enough to dodge a nosedive into the field, and unleash the wheels underneath the plane to land the craft. The wheels touched ground once, twice, and thrice before skidding through a set of trees and screeching to a halt._

_The crew breathed a sigh of relief, none more so than Diana, as J'onn opened the exit ramp for the trio to walk out of. Diana had to regain her legs, but only for a moment, before she walked with her compatriots onto the grassy terrain. They traversed to the side of the ship that had taken the brunt of the damage from the crash. J'onn smirked slightly, as he noted, "Your trust in Batman's engineering skills was well-placed."_

_Hawkgirl turned back to the direction of the apparent nothing that they had slammed into and proceeded to ask the obvious question. "So, what did we hit?"_

_Diana walked over towards the direction they had been heading to in the Javelin. She felt her leg it something invisible, causing her to gasp slightly in surprise. The young woman raised her left hand gently up to the unknown thing, and saw something begin to glow and ripple underneath her palm._

_She lifted her other hand up, and saw the same result with her gentle touch. "It's some sort of energy field," she finally deduced._

_She tried to press forward, but other than the increase in number and size of the ripples, nothing happened. It felt as if she was pushing on a wall. She immediately assumed that punching something like this would do little but injure her ego and, possibly, her fist. She turned towards the alien standing next to her and raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "Can you faze through it?"_

_The Martian instantly turned transparent and glided towards the shield, when he was suddenly repelled, gliding back to his original position and turning back into his full form. "It seems to be in a synchronous dimensional interface," he stated matter-of-factly._

_Hawkgirl began to charge her mace with electricity. "Let me take a whack at it." She got a head start and dashed towards the barrier and swung her whole weight into a thrust and slung it at the barrier. She cried out, initially as a battle cry, before suddenly changing into a cry of pain, as the electricity was reflected back to its user. The shock flowed through the Thanagarian's body, which was dispersed once the heroine was launched away from the energy shield._

_Wonder Woman positioned herself in front of her partner to catch her, as the alien girl slammed into the Amazon princess. The force of the Thanagarian took the two women about 15-20 yards away from the shield, before they finally skidded to a halt on the ground. Diana grunted, tucking a few free strands of hair behind her ear, before finally noting, somewhat annoyed, "Perhaps we should try a different approach…"_

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

The first thing the Crusader noticed was that he could not move his arms from behind his back. He noted that they were handcuffed behind him with some type of high profile locks that rose from his wrists to nearly his elbows. He groaned quietly, as he blinked his vision back into view and adjusted them for the lack of light in what apparently was a holding cell.

Batman shook his head gingerly, trying to regain his senses with the least possible headache, though he already had a massive one inside of his cranium. He opened his eyes, and took in his surroundings. Hawkgirl, J'onn, and Diana were all off to his left. It seemed like J'onn was awake, but the two females were still.

He wondered what it was that had hit them. He tried to remember what it was, then recalled from the depths of his mind that some type of ball of energy fired up from the ground. Batman caught a glimpse of the machine that was the culprit, before everything faded to black.

He heard Hawkgirl begin to stir, followed by Diana, as he tried to plan a route for escape. He searched for an opening to help his cause, when a section of the wall suddenly lifted itself off the ground. What walked through, however, left Batman unable to explain the circumstances he was now in.

A giant, hulking gorilla lumbered in, glaring at the quartet. The creature was massive and stood at least a head taller than J'onn, who was the tallest of their group. He had a golden belt of what was most likely ammunition strapped over his shoulder. Although it appeared he might've had the strength to snap any of the prisoners in two if he so chose, he carried within his hands what looked to be a pistol, but upon closer inspection revealed itself to be a rifle, but the size of the ape's hands made the rifle appear as though it were smaller. For someone of Batman's size, it was at least the length of his wing span, from fingertip to fingertip.

The creature grunted smugly, baring a few of its teeth at the group, though none of the heroes showed any sign of weakness. Although the gorilla's face appeared to be menacing, something appeared to be familiar to the Dark Knight. It looked like this one didn't have very many battle scars. He seemed greener than a basic soldier would.

Then the creature did something that no one could guess was going to happen. The ape aimed his weapon at the Dark Knight, the one whom he probably assumed was the most dangerous, and raised one hand to the upper part of his belt. "They are awake, sir," he said gruffly.

A few moments later, another gorilla, that was even taller than the first, strutted into the room. If the first one was referred to as 'green', this one would have to be referred to as 'experienced'. His face had a more hardened look to it, and it wasn't just because of the scar across his left eye, which seemed to mean he had his eye gouged out of it's socket in a battle, at some point. The body seemed more muscular, and Batman knew that if it came down between a contest of strength between himself and this hulking beast, he would most likely not come out as the victor. This gorilla bore no weapon, but it might have made him more intimidating to the average person, as they might have thought he could rely on his strength, unlike the first ape.

Batman noticed that Diana was starting to get annoyed, from what he couldn't tell. He didn't know if it was a general reaction to situations like these, or if the fact that she might have been feeling a little intimidated made her feel angry (not that he could tell if she was intimidated or not). "Where are we?" she angrily burst out. "Who's in charge?"

The great creature grunted, in what the Dark Knight could only determine to be a chuckle. "You misunderstand the situation, intruder," the gorilla barked. "You will answer my questions." He grinned at them, baring his teeth grotesquely at them.

"Sure," Hawkgirl mocked the tone the gorilla used. "Just get us out of these things."

The ape knelt down on one knee in front of the woman and gently lifted her chin up slightly. The creature leaned in close to her face and huffed. The girl wrinkled her nose in disgust. "It's not my policy to allow spies to roam free," he informed her, matter-of-factly.

J'onn suddenly began to stand, obviously getting ready to faze through the cuffs on his hands. "We are not spies!" he growled. "Nor will you hold us here against our will! We've--" A ripple of electricity shot through the Martian's body, stopping the alien from surprising the two guards. He dropped to his knees, then fell to his side.

"J'onn!" Hawkgirl cried. The Martian groaned for a moment, before shaking his head.

The gorilla released Hawkgirl's chin and smirked. "You will find Gorilla City much more difficult to leave than it was to enter," he informed them, standing to his full height, once again.

"Gorilla City…?" Diana murmured.

The best then scowled at the group, making him appear to be even more menacing than before. "Now, let us begin again!" his voice boomed. "Who sent you!?" Unnoticed in the fracas was Batman, as he slid his right hand into the glove on his left, retrieving an instrument similar to a lock pick.

It took quite a few minutes to find the lock on his cuffs, and several more before he finally believed he was making progress. The fact that he wasn't questioned yet had made things easier, on him, though the first gorilla kept his eyes on him.

He heard a loud smack of flesh on flesh, then flesh on metal, and winced, as J'onn was backhanded across the face and into the wall, obviously trying to buy Batman time. He would have to thank the Martian greatly, later.

The gorilla used one of his hands to ensnare the green man by his cloak. "Quit stalling, Spy!" the ape spat angrily. "Tell me who sent you!"

The Martian grimaced from the stranglehold. "No one sent us…" he choked through the grip.

"LIES!" the ape howled at him. He swatted him away, again, with another massive shot to the alien's skull, leaving J'onn dazed. He turned to the other three and clenched his fist at them. "I want the truth!" he barked. "Or you'll _all_ pay most dearly!"

Batman suddenly felt his cuffs unlatch. He was freed! But he knew that he'd have to wait for an appropriate opportunity to strike, or it would all be futile, and most likely, cost at least one of them their freedom or their life. Diana glanced over at him, as if to say 'What are you waiting for', but then she calmed herself, and analyzed the situation, realizing that the time to strike would reveal itself soon.

The ape began to lumber towards the trio. "I'll give you one last chance," the gorilla explained. He turned at the end of the line at Hawkgirl, sneering at the Thanagarian. "Starting with you."

"Take your best shot," she growled, not budging an inch. The ape finally had enough, and raised his hand to once again knock one of Batman's comrades across the face.

Batman made sure he wouldn't et that chance. "NO!!" he called out, launching a rope with weights tied at the ends at the beast. The ropes wrapped around the creature's arm and upper body, making him incapable of performing any actions.

A second later, Batman was raising into the air, having shot his grappling hook into the ceiling. He heard the gorilla bark an indiscernible order, but Batman had already planned his next few moves. He slung a Batarang into Dian's cuffs, which then unlatched themselves, allowing her to escape, as she took out the guard immediately in front of her. A few more guards hurried into the room, but the quartet of heroes easily dispatched them all after a short scuffle and escaped.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Batman saw the girls slam into the force field at full speed, and Batman, though content with the skills that he had, suddenly was particularly glad he didn't have the ability to fly. J'onn, who was seconds behind the two, flew down on an angle to catch them, managing to reach them before they hit the ground._

_The Dark Knight caught up to the trio a moment later, but realized they were cornered. The security officers of Gorilla City were right on their trail, and they couldn't escape due to the force field._

_"Try to escape like that again," a familiar voice crowed behind them, "and I promise you will regret it." Batman turned to see that there were at least a dozen gorillas on hover-bikes, all weapons aimed at the four heroes, and more were coming from behind the first squad. Batman was the only one of the four in a position to do anything, but even on his own, he wouldn't be able to take all of them at once._

_Suddenly, something began to make a sound behind them, like something was fading in and out. The security head gasped at the shield, causing Batman to turn and face the original cause of the heroes appearance in Gorilla City. The shimmering pale green transparent barrier suddenly faded and disappeared from view._

_"The Shield Wall shut down!" the commander cried. He turned to one of the soldiers next to him. "Get it back up, immediately!" he barked._

_The ape lifted a controller into view, and frantically began to press buttons. "It's not responding!" he worriedly called. "Someone's overridden the system!"_

_The head gorilla's face scowled. "Grodd…" he growled._

_"Sir!" another ape hollered. "Defensive systems detected armed missiles head this way! What are your orders?" He looked in a panicked state, himself._

_"Evacuate the City!" he demanded. "NOW!" He began to speed away from the heroes, back to the inner part of the City._

_"What about the humans!?" another soldier wondered._

_"I've got bigger problems, now!" he told them. "Get moving!"_

_Diana stepped forward. "Maybe we can help!" the princess declared._

_The gorilla's hover-bike stopped instantly. He turned his head, showing a surprised look on the face of the leader. "You?" he questioned. "What could you possibly do to save us?" he wondered bemusedly._

_Hawkgirl grinned, as her mace began to flicker with electricity. "Just watch," she informed the security head._

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Batman stood with a computer that the gorillas had dragged out near the edge of the City. He and a few other scientists were at the computer. The sensors had shown that there were only two missiles heading towards the city, but one of them would've caused enough destruction to level the entire city, so either someone was worried they would be deactivated, or that they really wanted wanton destruction, and make sure nothing was left.

The Caped Crusader had a headset on, and was directing Hawkgirl, Wonder Woman, and J'onn as the missiles headed for their location. "There are two missiles," Batman informed them. "One is heading towards the southern part of the City, and the other seems to be heading just to the edge of the city. You'll need to deactivate the missiles by extracting the detonation device located towards the middle of the missile."

"Would it be possible to have all of us focus on one missile at a time?" Diana wondered.

"Negative," Batman told her. "You'll have to split up. They are too close to the City and moving too quickly to focus on one at a time. Any of the missiles hit, and it will cause destruction for at least two/thirds of the city."

"Roger," Diana replied. "J'onn, you take the Southern one. Hawkgirl, you take the closer one. I'll hang back in case one of them gets past you two." The trio flew off into the distance, as Batman watched the group almost vanish from view.

Batman watched the radar, as one of the trails of the missile flickered and vanished. "One down," J'onn announced. Batman heard something crash, but nothing exploded, as if to confirm it. A large cloud of debris flew into the air, due to the crash.

He smirked, focusing back onto the screen, and saw the trail of the other missile begin to flicker and vanish. Batman clenched his fist in victory, raising his head to see an explosion. 'Not the most secure method, but…' he mentally noted.

"Batman! Get out of there!!" a voice cried through the headset.

"Diana!?" the Knight asked. "What's going on?"

"The top half of the missile is still intact!" she replied. "It's going to touch down near your position!"

"But there's no heat signature! How…?"

"It must have broken off! It won't explode, but that doesn't mean that it won't cause any damage if it hit's the ground and skids into a building or some other object!" A grinding noise began to echo through the princess's microphone, before the line was cut.

"DIANA!!" the Knight cried. He looked up, and saw that the princess had pushed up on the missile head causing it's momentum to take it out of its original direction, but it was still careening towards the city. The Themysciran Princess was trying to use all her might to slow it down to a standstill, but it wasn't working fast enough.

The missile pierced through the top of a skyscraper, causing her to be covered in dirt and have scratches all over her back, as well as knocking her out of position, making her unable to slow it down quick enough before it would touch down. Batman threw his headset off and began running in the direction the missile was heading.

Batman saw that Diana finally was able to use the friction of the ground to force the missile back. He heard the missile finally begin to give way, and the Crusader hoped she had enough room to slow it to a stop. He kept dashing as fast as he could, when he saw the missile finally stall.

What happened next, though, gave Batman his first sense of helplessness. Never before had he realized that he hadn't been able to do anything to save or help any of his comrades before, but as he watched, the back end of the missile slowly began to lift up into the air. Diana seemed to breath a sigh of relief that the missile had stopped, when she noticed that the shadow around her was growing, the top part was slowly falling on top of her. In slow motion, Batman saw that the missile collapsed onto the Princess of Themyscira, kicking up an enormous amount of dust and debris.

Batman leapt down into the trench created by heroine and the projectile, and knelt down near the middle of it. "DIANA!!" he cried, as he quickly began digging through the rubble created from the impact. He felt the eyes of several hundred, including J'onn and Hawkgirl on him, but he just kept digging.

"It can't end like this…" he muttered silently, throwing away bit by bit, refusing to believe that it was obviously a futile effort. He heard footsteps behind him, and felt a warm hand touch his shoulder. He glanced up and saw J'onn's face, calm, as if to say, 'Rest easy'.

Batman lowered his head and sighed in defeat and slammed his fist into the rocks in front of him. 'How can I!?' he mentally told the Martian. 'If anyone…if anyone has to give up their lives for this…it should be me! No one else! I'm always ready for it…to sacrifice for the greater good…but…' He clenched his fist closed in pain. 'It has to be me…'

Suddenly, the giant missile top in front of them began to groan and lift itself from the ground. The Princess tossed the missile aside and squashed the disconnected detonation device, destroying it, and tossed it aside.

She climbed up onto the level ground with the rest of the heroes, glancing out to the crowds of gorillas. "The Fates were kind, today," she informed them. "Your city is safe."

The gorillas roared in cheers for the four heroes. 'Three heroes…' Batman reminded himself. 'I hardly did a thing.' Each of the gorillas walked up to the group of heroes, shaking their hands, while Batman stood off to the side, trying to avoid as many well-wishers as possible. He was not a big crowd person, to begin with, but the fact he gave up, the fact he lost faith that his teammates would make it ok, the fact that he was helpless to do anything, made him resent this particular situation even more.

Diana glanced over through her peripheral vision, before turning her full head towards him. She frowned slightly, and cocked an eyebrow, before glancing down at his arms. Batman noticed that his arms were still covered in dirt from all the digging he had done to try and save the Warrior Princess, and swiftly stuffed them into his cloak, hoping she didn't see them, see his moment of weakness.

She gave him an odd look. One that looked thankful and also regretful, as if she had anything to be regretful of. She took a step towards him, causing Batman to wonder what was going to happen next. He hadn't exactly had a perfect record in events that he could guess today, but he assumed that, at the very least, he would be berated for not believing in her abilities. He had already done enough of that to himself, but braced himself for the verbal abuse.

Instead, however, she gently placed her warm, slender hand onto his shoulder, and leaned towards him. She found a section of his cheek not covered by hit cowl and tenderly left a warm peck on his cheek. The surprise move by the woman left the Crusader, who always had a response to everything, motionless and speechless. Out of all the events that could have taken place right then, that one didn't even register, still didn't register. Finally, after a few moments, Batman's brain, which had momentarily shut down trying to determine what it was that had just happened, generated a coherent thought.

'Nope. Didn't see that one coming.'

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Wow, alright, I was only, what, five weeks late of when I said I was gonna get it in. Better late than never, I suppose. Well, I liked this one in general, but there were some things I messed with. I kind of made the gorillas more menacing, and changed the events of the missiles, a bit, making them more detailed. One of the things that I think will either go over really well, or not at all, was the last page or so, where Batman basically beats himself up for not being able to help Diana. Not sure if it was the right move, but I decided that a moment of weakness would've set up the ending nicely, which is what I had planned on writing as the last paragraph since I began this story. Hopefully, the next one won't take so long, but I seem to have many more projects than tests, this semester, leaving me with less time. Plus, I'm dropping 30-35 hours a week at my job, meaning much of my free time that I do have is spent there. So, yeah, Read and Review, please. I'd like some replies, especially with Batman's attitude.


	3. Paradise Found

Hmm…I wanted to go through the series in order. Of course, it happens all of three chapters. That figures. Oh, well. At least I'm getting another chapter up. I guess this would be the 'first' close interaction between the two. I highly doubt this one will be as long as the others, as it'll be the first mostly made up in my head. Tell me what you think, please! S'thank you.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Paradise Found**

Diana sat at the console to the computer and flipped through the images coming onto the screen from the satellites that surrounded the earth, scanning it constantly for any dangers that could appear at any second. The princess knew, however, that even if she wasn't paying attention, if anything dangerous occurred, Batman's computers would sense, most likely long before she even saw it. This allowed her mind to roam as she willed it. Normally, it would traverse to her opinions of Man's World and of her colleagues in the Justice League.

However, this day was far from being 'normal'.

It seemed almost like years ago, though it had only been a few days, but her mind wandered back to her home. Or at least, what used to be her home.

Before Hades. Before Felix Faust. Before the Justice League.

When she left to help what would end up being her teammates against the aliens some eight months ago, she had planned on returning to her Amazon sisters shortly thereafter. Sure, she knew that there would be consequences of her actions, but she didn't believe that they would be too severe, despite her mother's words that day, she knew that, deep down, they would need her help and that she wanted to help them.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_Diana and Hippolyta sat on their horses, glancing out over the ocean. In the distance, a black cloud was forming, and a great rush of cold wind began sweeping in front of them. Diana felt her spine shiver, and wondered what could force the weather to change so abruptly?_

_Then, her mare began to rustle uneasily, and began to be incited by some unknown force. The princess realized, quickly, that the shivers weren't from the cold wind, but the ominous feel the wind and horizon emanated._

_Diana gently patted her steed on the side of its snout. "Easy girl," she muttered warmly._

_She glanced at her mother next to her. "These omens don't bode well, mother," the princess told her, though by the stern, yet sorrowful, look on her face told Diana that the queen had already discovered this. "Mankind may be facing its darkest hour."_

_The queen didn't look at her. She sighed heavily, before turning towards her daughter. "Then mankind will have to face it alone," she sternly informed her._

_Diana's eyes widened in shock. "How can you say that!?" she demanded._

_The elder Amazon turned her horse back towards the city, calling over her shoulder, "Anything that happens beyond these shores is not our concern." Diana, though, noticed she had a twinge of regret in her tone. "Here, the gods will protect us."_

_Diana looked at her mother as she disappeared into the woods. She looked back out to sea and breathed, "I hope you're right…" before turning her horse back towards the city, as well._

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

The Amazon breathed heavily as she followed through with what were her mother's wishes, despite her never saying them. When the invaders and the Imperium had been eliminated, she expected to return home, but the others, particularly Flash, informed her that she should spend some time around the area; get to know some of the items involved with 'Man's World'. Seeing as she had never been outside of her home island, and that she was sure to be punished for leaving, she figured that she'd venture about a bit. So she stayed. And when the Watchtower was revealed by Batman, she had another reason to stay.

Her face softened when she realized that she had met her new 'family', if you could call them that. The young woman always enjoyed placing her friends in the roles that suited them best, kind of like playing with them. She giggled slightly, realizing that the shows she had been watching, especially the 'situational comedies' that she had begun watching, heavily influenced her in this aspect. She especially liked the ones that revolved around families.

Superman was her surrogate 'older brother', the one she could never have while on Themyscera. The one who was always tender and kind. He was the first one that Diana had noticed everyone had given respect to. At first, she thought that it was because of his great strength and experience when dealing with criminals, but a short while later, she realized it was more than that.

Superman had an uncanny ability to connect with other's emotions, that stemmed from the fact he was the last son of Krypton. Whenever a fight between the members broke out, he was always the first to quell it. He was also the first one that Diana would go to if she, indeed, had a problem with one of the other members, or if she didn't understand something that she had been told. And even though he was the strongest male on the team, he never resorted to violence unless the time called for it, which was also an admirable quality.

If Superman was her older brother, then Flash could, Diana supposed, be her younger brother. He was always the light-hearted one of the group and kept their spirits up, even if the ways he'd go about it weren't always well-received or intentional. Flash was the one who convinced her to stay with the group before the Watchtower had been built, and was usually the one to talk with her about the current happenings in the fashion and entertainment realms that Diana had begun to take a liking to.

Flash was also a strong and surprising warrior in his own right. While his strength came from his speed, he actually was quite quick-witted, which, if one spent some time with him, would come more as a shock due to his mind mostly thinking about food, women, and jokes. However, Diana knew that Wally West, Flash's alias, knew more than he would let on, and he used the fact that his opponents would assume he was a bit slower in the mind than the hand, he could outwit them.

The sister of the family would most definitely have to be Hawkgirl. Besides being the only female in the group, her battle hardened, yet earth-warped, ideals from her home world of Thanagar made her both similar and different from Diana at the same time. The heroine and her had their quarrels quite often, due to the fact that their opinions were quite different. While both were quick to raise arms against their opponents, Diana could restrain herself quickly into a more diplomatic tone, when necessity arose. Hawkgirl, however, was still trying to learn this phase.

However, that didn't stop Diana from loving her like one of her Amazoness sisters. The girl was always a great opponent in the training room when Diana felt she was getting rusty from inaction. And Hawkgirl, when she was not on a warpath, was actually very comforting to talk to. The fact the Thanagarian's and the Amazon's opinions were shaped so differently from their different backgrounds allowed for some very in depth discussions on their views of the world. The mace-wielding heroine had some interesting outlooks on life, and Diana took each thought shared gladly, especially the ones which were unlike her own. The fact that she would share opinions that were not exactly welcomed by someone of the princess's past comforted Diana that they were actually bonding rather well.

Next came the two men who were kind of like father figures two her. She'd place them together because they were more like two sides of the same coin. John Stewart, the Solar System's resident Green Lantern, and J'onn J'onnz, the Martian Manhunter, both treated her in different ways, because both came from different backgrounds. She valued both of their opinions on specific topics, as well, and always liked working with them.

J'onn was more of the kind-hearted father to Diana, which seemed to stem from his time as a peace-loving Martian millennia ago. Much older than any of them, J'onn had known solitude for centuries, and had been through more than he would ever let on to any of them, willingly. Yet he always had advice, and seemed to say the right thing, though, Diana mused, she never could figure out if it was because he could always recognize what they were thinking, allowing him to mull over an answer before the question could be asked. But, Diana suspected, that J'onn would always have an answer to anything she could ask him, due to the fact that he would always be open to give her an answer to anything she asked, and always was tender whenever Diana needed someone to open up to.

The other John in the group, Green Lantern was much more stern with the princess, which was something she wasn't used to, but realized he would be the 'hard as steel' hand, if he was the other part of the father both of them represented. While J'onn was the one who would be tender with her, when an answer needed to be blunt, she would always go to John. Though she would never admit it to him, possibly because he wouldn't admit the same thing to her, Diana valued John's opinion on all topics, especially when they were conducting operations against some type of villain. Whenever Diana wanted an answer that was necessary, whether she wanted to hear it or not, she would go to John, and she knew whatever she heard would be the right answer or decision.

Now she came to the most intriguing, and yet the most mysterious, member of the group. Or part-time member, as he would rather be called. Diana leaned back on her chair and cocked an eyebrow, as she debated what Batman would be to her. Because the other positions were already filled, and that she knew very little about him, she couldn't exactly place him in any specific category. In fact, what made him most mysterious of all was that he was a little bit of everyone. He was straightforward, sometimes extremely harsh like John, yet while he was present, though he tried his best to be cold towards their colleagues, he released a sense of security that she only received from J'onn. And while he always challenged her Themysceran ideals, similar to Hawkgirl, he always listened to her reasoning, akin to Superman. And, while his humor wasn't the blatant, occasionally moronic, comedy that came from Flash, he had his own dry wit that brought a grin to her face every so often.

She remembered during the alien invasion that Batman, despite the fact he obviously had no superpowers of his own, demanded the respect of those present, even Superman. She then realized that, after Superman, she would need to gain his recognition in order to prove herself. Surprisingly enough, she remembered wanting his recognition more than the others. Perhaps it was because, only moments into their infiltration of one of the factories, that he wouldn't give it easily. At first she was angered by this fact, but by watching him battle, she understood. He wouldn't freely give his respect to others because, if he didn't believe he did everything he could to help defeat their opponents, he wouldn't give it to himself.

Then she remembered that he had, in his own way, given her respect, by believing she would defend him without so much as a passing glance as he tried to free her from the ground in the main station. The princess couldn't quite place what piece of her heart belonged to the Dark Knight, or what kind of affection it was. It certainly wasn't like anything she had previously given to anyone else, even her mother, but she would wait until she understood where Batman stood in her eyes. In her family.

She smiled as she thought about her family in the Watchtower, then frowned as she thought about the family she left behind on Themyscera. Because she needed help to make sure Faust would follow through on his end of the bargain, she allowed outsiders onto the island. Not only that, the outsiders were men. She felt a lump rise in her throat as she held back a sob as her thoughts rounded back to her thoughts on the events of a few days ago, and her last words to her mother.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_It was a sight Diana would have thought she'd never see. The four men stood on Themysceran soil, the Javelin sitting on the sand behind them. Superman, Batman, Flash, and Martian Manhunter all stood looking Hippolyta and Diana, as they awaited the queen's awards to them for helping the Amazons._

_Diana realized she let her mind wander as her queen, her mother, was regarding the heroes. "And for your brave assistance against the sorcerer Faust, and the mad god Hades, you have earned our eternal gratitude," Hippolyta explained warmly._

_Diana noticed that Flash was muttering something to one of her sisters standing next to him. By the bemused look of the Amazon, and the disbelieving stare J'onn gave, it was classic, embarrassing, Flash. The smirk he had seemed to mean he didn't understand that he was doing so, however._

_Diana had to force down a giggle, as her mother continued with the impromptu ceremony. "Before you leave, please accept these royal offerings." Hippolyta nodded to her daughter and a few other Amazons, who began advancing on the quartet with some type of object in their hands. The warriors gladly accepted the golden plants. "You are all truly heroes."_

_Superman, the diplomat of the group, bowed for the group. "Thank you, Your Majesty."_

_Flash had already begun to twirl the object in his hands, before placing it atop his head. "Cool!" he grinned at the princess. Diana was unable to suppress the fits of laughter as successfully, this time, and just shook her head at the hero, who pouted in return. _

_"Diana," Hippolyta announced, catching their attention again. "Princess of Themyscera. Stand forth." Diana was slightly perturbed by the greeting. It was something she was not accustomed to, coming from her mother, but bowed elegantly to her._

_"As your mother, I am overjoyed that you have finally returned to us," she stated. The princess smiled warmly at her mother, but the semi-stern look on the queen's face did not fade. Again, the young woman wondered what this could mean, but did not speak openly, choosing to let her mother finish._

_"But as your queen, I am obliged to uphold the laws of Themyscera," she continued, "and in bringing these outsiders to our island, you have broken out most sacred law, this cannot be overlooked."_

_Diana's eyes widened, as she knew what was coming. "But, Mother…!" Diana began, though she found no words to voice her concerns._

_Hippolyta held her hand to stop them from arguing back, knowing that any more delay would be more difficult on her. "Diana, I have no choice," the queen closed her eyes and gulped back the lump in her throat. "It is with a heavy heart that I must exile you from Themyscera."_

_"What!?" Superman exasperatedly questioned._

_Flash stepped forward immediately. "You can't do that!!" he cried. "She risked her butt to save all of you! She--HEY!" he shouted, as he was prodded with on of the spears, and surrounded by several more, in order to silence him._

_Superman, in turn, stepped forward. "Please!" he begged. "She did this because she loves you. You can't punish her for that!"_

_Diana shook her head. "No. Mother's right." She turned to face her mother. "I did break the law, and I humbly accept your judgment." She bowed her head slightly, as her vision of her mother blurred._

_She felt her voice began to waver, and bid herself one more sentence, before steeling herself against the tears. "The fates were against us mother. Goodbye." Unable to bear it any longer, she closed her eyes and turned away, walking to the Javelin._

_"Present! Arms!" one of the Amazons announced, as they all rose their weapons in an arch-like manner for Diana to walk through._

_One by one, the others began to follow her, before Flash continued his gripes. "That's it!? You're just gonna walk away!?" he wondered aloud. He turned angrily back towards the queen. "This is so bogus!"_

_Batman made the first motion, grabbing the hero roughly by the arm. Diana knew he was admonishing him for his actions, and silently, she thanked him for that. She wished to begin the healing process as soon as possible, and to that end, she just wanted to try to forget the whole business of what occurred recently._

_She paused for a moment at the entrance to the aircraft and lowered her head. 'One more step,' she mused, 'and I'll never be able to see this place again.'_

_She immediately sensed J'onn tapping into her thoughts. Again, she felt the warm security emanating from him being there and letting him know that she was not alone. The Martian placed a hand on her shoulder gently. "Diana…" he began._

_She instantly held her head up, not allowing herself to be seen as weak. "Let's go." she told them. And shortly they were off into the horizon._

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Again, she sighed as the events replayed within her mind's eye, and she felt something wet slide down her left cheek. For a fleeting moment she felt herself wishing she never left the island. That she never believed it to be her duty to help Man's World in their time of crisis. She even wished she had never met her new 'family', if it meant that she could see her mother again.

Just then, something touched her cheek, wiping away the tear that she had been unable to withhold from releasing. She gasped and stood up swiftly, ready to attack. The hero across from her cocked an eyebrow behind his cowl. "If this is the way you treat everyone who comes into contact with you, it's no wonder we don't interact often," Batman retorted smugly.

Diana lowered her guard, though she was in no mood for any antics that the Crusader may employ, especially if it was to pick an argument. "What do you want?" she demanded.

Batman's eyebrows furrowed slightly, but it didn't seem to be because of annoyance by her remark. It almost looked like he was pondering something. He stood there silent for so long, that Diana wondered if he had even heard her. She was about to ask if he did so, when he turned towards the screen. "I'll take over early. I have some work to do, anyway." He sat down in the chair in front of the monitor. He began typing, scouring the database for information on what the satellites were picking up.

It was Diana's turn to arch an eyebrow. She suddenly felt as if she had said something wrong, and began to feel guilty at her actions. "But…" Batman just waved her off nonchalantly, as a manager would an employee, his eyes never leaving the screen.

She sighed heavily and turned to leave, walking towards the door. She pressed the button next to the doorway, sliding the wall open into the corridor. She stepped into the hallway, when the Dark Knight called out. "Princess."

She turned to face him, though he didn't turn to look at her. The clicking of the keys had stopped, and the screen was holding on one picture, of her home island of Themyscera. "I just wanted to say…you're not alone."

She gasped slightly at the man's response. There were many times that she had talked to the cowl-wearing hero, but never did they involve him being so…warm. She replayed their adventures, even only over the past eight months. Their battles against the invaders from space; to save Atlantis's king, Aquaman; against Luthor's collection of criminals, in which his desire to prove himself nearly killed himself; and, finally, their last, greatest quest to help her mother and her Amazon sisters. Diana held her hand up to her mouth to suppress a sob. She wondered why this was happening at this particular time. It wasn't as if she didn't know that already. She knew that she wasn't alone any more.

Then it hit her. It was because it was Batman, and he had dropped, if only momentarily, his disguise for her. She had finally been able to get a glimpse of the 'real' Batman, the man behind the mask. She suddenly had so many questions and comments floating through her mind at that very moment, but she didn't wish to dismiss the moment so easily. When she felt herself composed enough to reply, she unwaveringly said, "You're right."

She stepped outside the door, which closed behind her. She leaned against the door and covered her face with her hands. "Thank you," she breathed through her tear-filled happiness. "Thank you."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

So, here's number three. I actually liked the way this one turned out. I tried making Batman the way he normally is, after ending his story with him kinda being out of character. Again, Diana's pretty emotional, but I think it suited her well. The whole 'family sitcom' thing was just something I thought up out of the blue, and I thought I got it across fairly well. But, hey, who cares what I think? Let's here your side. Review, please!


	4. Worth Dying For

Ey'yo, I'm back, and with another Batman Wonder woman fic! OOOOOOH! So, anyway, I don't think this really is any…errm…'First', for them, but it just came to me during 'The Savage Time', which is when this is immediately set after, and noting the similarities between Batman and Steve Trevor. Read and Review, please!

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Worth Dying For**

Bruce awoke with a start amidst an array of lights and metal. The bright illumination blinded him for a moment, which, he noted, meant that the hero must have been out cold for some time. A quick check of the room informed him that he was now in the Medical Bay of the Watchtower. He did little to try to alert anyone to his presence, but soon saw that the room was empty, which surprised him a bit. There was a chair nearby his bed, however, which meant that someone had been there, watching him sleep.

The first thing the Crusader noticed about his body was the fact each breath didn't come easy, but with a twinge of pain. He had some broken ribs. Bruce slowly swung his legs over the edge of the bed, when he felt a shock of pain course through his body, forcing a grunt to escape from his lips. His hand ran to his midsection, where he felt some bandage wrap around his abdomen. His hand trailed the bandage, and followed it up to his shoulder, which was also quite stiff. He took his hand away and looked at it, and saw that some redness had come off of it onto his hand.

He slowly, painfully, slid off of the bed onto the floor and began to make his way to the computer on the far end of the room by the window. He turned the monitor on and quickly began a survey on where his colleagues in the League were. Superman, J'onn, and Flash were cleaning up the action from their encounter with a group of super villains. Green Lantern and Hawkgirl were patrolling various hotspots around the globe in _Javelin III_, and Diana was in the Watchtower.

'Looks like she's on Monitor Duty,' the Bat mused. 'I don't know why else she'd be up here.'

As if to deny his assumption, the door to the Med Bay slid open, and standing there with a drink and some more medical supplies was Diana. Her eyes widened when she didn't see the hero on the bed, and looked over to the side by the computer. She shook her head and smirked at him. Bruce's eyes narrowed, in a nonverbal attempt to get her to back off, though he figured it wouldn't work. It hadn't yet, anyway.

The Amazon walked over to the end table next to where Batman had been laying, then stopped. She seemed to decide against setting the items there, and walked over to the bed closer to where the hero had been standing. She set the supplies down on that table and glanced at the cowl-bearing hero. She gestured to the bed and tried her best to get a stern look on her face. "Sit," she commanded, gesturing at the platform.

Batman just continued to glare at her, which did nothing but cause her to place her fists on her hips, and made her face turn even more grim. The hero decided that this stand-off could go on for a while, and decided to humor her, for the moment. She could force him to sit down if she wanted to, with her strength, anyway, which would be something Superman would have done. He was somewhat amused that the princess of the Amazons was going to give him a choice, though it was more like a parent giving a child the 'choice' to do his or her chores before they went outside to play.

The Dark Knight decided to walk over to the bed, never letting his scowl leave the young woman's face, though her own glare never faltered. He slowly turned around and sat down, revealing his back to her. She let out a sigh of relief as he did what she told him without any hassle, and went to work removing his bandages.

"You have a mild concussion and three cracked ribs," the Amazon began to inform him of the extent of the injuries, letting her hands work on the bandages, throwing the blood-stained wraps into the trash bin. "You also have several second-degree burns on your back and, when you fell, you caught a ledge of some kind, which pierced your right shoulder, creating a laceration two-and-a-half inches deep." She slowly began to massage his back with some burn cream.

Batman winced a bit, before the cream began to take effect, relaxing the hero. Diana smiled softly as the hero's shoulders slowly lost their tension. The two just sat there, without saying a word to each other, waiting for the other one to say something.

To Wonder Woman's, the moniker that many tabloids had donned her recently, surprise, Batman was the one to speak up. "What happened after I lost consciousness."

The movement on his back stopped suddenly, which surprised the Dark Knight slightly. After a several minutes without a response, he began to turn around, when Diana placed a hand on his back to stop him. He heard a heavy sigh, before the woman began, "After you were hit by Star Sapphire's beam, the battle continued. I threw Cheetah at her, which ended up knocking the two of them out of the air, but apparently, they weren't knocked out, as I first thought. Superman defeated Grundy, and Flash knocked out Copperhead, but Shade was able to douse the area in darkness, as he and the others escaped, before we could round them up."

Batman was silent for a moment, analyzing her description, before continuing, a little more forcefully than he apparently had wanted to, "What diverted your attention from the actio--HRR!" She had suddenly gone from being very gentle to being quite rough on the burns on his back, and the hero suddenly felt a sense of danger emanate from the princess, though he couldn't see her face.

She laid the hero down onto the bed and turned away. "It appears the medicine is working wonderfully," Diana noted coolly.

"Medicine…?"

Diana reached for an ancient-looking dish and lifted the lid. She turned back around, never meeting his eyes. 'Matter of fact,' he mentally noted, 'her hair is blocking any view of her eyes, at all.'

She stuck two of her fingers into the salve and said, "It's an ancient herbal balm from Themyscira for deep open wounds," she explained. "Be careful, because it burns a bit, in the beginning, while it cleanses the wound." She began to apply the salve, and Batman realized she wasn't joking. The wound felt as if it were on fire as soon as her hand touched the wound. It felt as if he were being branded by a cattle prod.

She lowered her head to the wound and began to gently blow on the wound, and it quickly began to cool. After a few moments, she motioned for him to rise into a sitting position again, this time so she could face his side. He began to re-wrap his deeply bruised abdomen, his burned back, and the gash on his shoulder.

In the middle of the final touches, he turned to her. "Well?"

Diana froze again. The Dark Knight still had been unable to see her eyes since he asked what happened after he was knocked out. "Princess…?" he urged, reaching to place a hand on her shoulder. Before he could touch her, she grabbed his wrist with her hand. Finally, she raised her head at him, and his eyes widened at the fact her eyes were red and shining with unshed tears.

Her lip trembled, which she bit to steady. She finally began to speak, again. "I thought that…that you had left us because of me. Again." Batman cocked an eyebrow beneath his cowl, and she seemed to sense it, as she explained. "You fell nearly thirty feet, and when I hurried down to you, you were already bleeding heavily and were unconscious. I was afraid you were…" She closed her eyes and bit her in lip to cut herself off.

Batman looked at her hard. He was in difficult position, as, for the first time in his life, he felt that he had done something wrong, though he hadn't actually done anything. "What do you mean by, 'again'?" he asked, as he began to place his Kevlar suit on over the bandages.

Diana gasped slightly. "Superman said…"

"Superman isn't here, Princess," he cut her off, sliding his gloves on. "Now, what do you mean by 'Again'?"

Diana sighed, and didn't press the issue, though he winced slightly every so often due to his ribs. "You remember when we invaded one of the alien compounds…back when the Justice League first got together?" Batman nodded. "Well, when our raid of the compound failed, and you were captured behind the wall, I was afraid you'd…" Diana's voice caught in her throat again. "And it was all because I was so focused on proving myself, I almost sacrificed you for that goal. And then the whole thing with Aresia…instead of listening to you, I ignored you, and again, it nearly cost you..." Batman offered her a handkerchief, which she used to wipe her eyes.

The hero took a deep breath. "You need to learn to let these things go, Diana," he told her. She gasped slightly at the use of her real name. "We all put ourselves at risk in order that others may have a more peaceful life. I'm no different from Superman, or Green Lantern, or you. You need to learn to have more faith in me."

"But…"

Batman held up a hand to stop her. She frowned at him, though she seemed more composed. The hero turned and headed towards the Monitor Room, while the young woman followed him. After several moments of silence, Wonder Woman became uncomfortable, and opened up the conversation again. "I just don't want anyone hurt. And I understand that you may be the most experienced of everyone but Superman and maybe Green Lantern, but you still are the one who takes the most injuries. You're only human."

"You can't be so worried about injuries," he said sternly. "They happen." Diana lowered her head.

Another few more minutes of silence followed until the two reached the Monitor Room. "Why are we here, anyway?" Diana asked, as Batman sat in the chair in front of the main computer, fingers flying across the keyboard.

"No one has been here in some time," he mentioned. "You really should've stayed in here, to make sure nothing was happening."

Diana pursed her lips. "Excuse me for wanting to heal you," she muttered.

Batman cocked a half smile at her, which caused her eyes to widen in surprise, before smiling smiled softly, laying her head on top of her arms on the back of the chair. After a few more moments of watching him, the Amazon suddenly had another question pop into her mind. "Batman…"

"Hmm?"

"You said that we shouldn't worry about or comrades getting injured in battle," she wondered. "Then…why did you do it?"

"Do what?"

"Take Star Sapphire's shot in my place?"

Batman didn't answer, instead focusing his attention on the screen, while Wonder Woman kept her eyes on the Dark Knight. "You know that I would have taken that blow more readily than you. Why is it that you risked your life for that?"

"Star Sapphire was charging up a large bolt of energy in front of her," he informed her. "Not even you would've taken a blow like that unfazed."

"All the more reason to let me take it. I could've reflected it with my gauntlets..."

"And have it strike a pipeline, setting the building aflame?"

"I still would have taken the blast a lot better than you would have."

"I trusted that you and the others would finish things up a lot better than we could have if you had been knocked out. I thought I would have been able to disrupt the blow better with my suit."

Diana scoffed. "The Batman doesn't 'think'. He 'knows'."

"I made the best course of action at the time. Compared to the rest of you, I'm not as invaluable."

A loud slam forced Batman to turn to the heroine next to him. The chair was now imprinted into the wall. Batman turned to the young woman and saw that she looked as if she was hurt, confused, and scared, all at once. "How could you even say that!?" she shrieked. "You're possibly one of the most invaluable members on this team! How many times has your leadership saved us!?"

"I never said I doubted my abilities, Princess," he explained. "I meant that the League would go on, with or without me." He suddenly stood up and clicked off the monitor.

Diana sighed heavily. "Alright, let me ask you this." The Crusader turned to face her head on, waiting for her to continue. "Why do you risk your life for them?"

He blinked in question behind his mask. "Who?" he wondered.

"Them!" she said, gesturing out the window towards the earth. "What have they done for you? All they do is fear you! Most would see a crime in front of them and turn away! None would help you if they had to, so why should you do it!? You could live a normal, happy life, yet you don't! Aren't you afraid of dying?"

Batman gave her a hard look. Or Diana thought it was directed at her, because she wondered if it cut deep, for he didn't answer right away. In reality, his eyes were unfocused, glancing back into the distant memory.

The memory came up as vividly as if it happened only yesterday, though because he seemed to relive it every time his eyes shut, it most certainly happened only yesterday. The end of his favorite movie, The Gray Ghost. The smell of popcorn drifting in the wind as he, his mother, and his father walked down the alley. The sense of surprise and fear as the bandit from nowhere, gun withdrawn and aimed at the trio. The smell of smoke in the air, after his father moved to intercept the villain's handgun. The sight of his parents strewn on the ground, the pearls from his mother's necklace scattered, his hands covered in blood.

Batman lowered his gaze slightly tow the young woman in front of him, who realized his hard look wasn't originally directed at her. "Some things are worth dying for," he informed her, smirking a little at the end.

Diana felt something in her stomach she never had felt before. It stemmed from the smirk he was giving her. It wasn't a 'smirk' like he normally gave. Those only held an air of arrogance and coldness to their recipients. This was a genuine smile, or half-smile at least.

As the Dark Knight walked past her towards another door, the memories Diana had suddenly flashed back to when she and her friends, minus Batman, had all been sent to a different dimension, with the Batman they had met in that era so different. She remembered the story of his parents being killed because they spoke out 'against the regime', as he had said, and vaguely wondered if this Batman had a similar past. She looked at him deeply, and realized this was so. She remembered when Batman, despite feeling the effects from Aresia's attack, knock her out of the way from an oncoming bus, eventually able to stop it from crashing into a group of fire trucks, before collapsing from exhaustion. She then remembered Steve Trevor, and how he said those same words to her, when they went back in time to restore said timeline back into order.

"Come on," Batman beckoned. "There's somewhere we need to go."

"Is there trouble?" Diana quickly wondered, silently questioning why he hadn't said anything earlier.

"Not exactly," he told her.

"What about the Monitor Room?" she wondered.

"I've connected it to the _Javelin_," he informed her. "We'll know if anything happens." And the two exited the room towards the hangar.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

"Where are we headed?" Diana inquired as they glided in the night towards some city filled with lights.

"You'll see," the Crusader said. "We're almost there."

Indeed, it was only another fifteen minutes before Batman landed in a clearing just outside an area marked off by a large, old looking fence. Batman unbuckled himself from his seat and pressed a button on the console to lower the entrance ramp. He looked at the Amazon princess, and nodded at her to do the same.

The duo walked down the ramp and onto the grass. Diana felt herself getting an in-depth look at what lay behind the rusty fence. "We're at a cemetery?" she wondered allowed, looking at Batman.

The Caped Crusader, meanwhile, had busied himself in a brush several yards away from the entrance. He seemed to be clipping some…roses?

"What are you doing?" she asked the obvious question.

He held up his hand, revealing four flowers, and handed one to her. Diana took it inquisitively. He silently walked over to the gate and leaned against it, pushing it open gently. Diana quietly followed behind him, as the two made their way deeper into the rows of gravestones, each of which were laminated by a series of four small lights, so that one could see the names even at night. Batman led a few steps in front, before stopping in front of one that had a cross, signifying that the grave belonged to one of a war veteran.

Batman bent down and placed a hand onto it, seemingly muttering a few words to the stone. He laid down one of his roses, and turned to her. "It's your turn," he whispered, as if he were afraid to disrupt the peaceful rest of those who slept the eternal slumber, there.

Diana breathed heavily, wondering who it exactly was, though she had a pretty good idea. She walked over and saw that the name on the gravestone was very familiar.

'In loving memory of a husband, father, and hero.

Steven Leonard Trevor'

She let a single tear slide down her cheek, which dripped onto the gravestone, before placing the rose next to the Crusader's. She folded her hands and gave an ancient Greek chant in honor of the fallen hero. After several long minutes, she slowly turned away from the grave towards Batman, about to tell him she was ready to leave.

Diana puzzled at what she saw. She noticed that the hero was standing over another pair of graves. The hero, himself, had his back to her. She noticed that his hands were rose-less, and were laying on top of the two gravestones in front of him. The princess frowned, and snuck behind him to peek at the graves.

As soon as she was right behind him, she saw that the hero's face had a pained expression on it. She looked down at the graves, and realized the stones were connected as one rather large one.

'Here Lies the Loving Father and Mother of the Wayne Family;

Thomas Wayne

Martha Wayne'

'Are they…!?' Diana gasped. She turned towards the hero, who didn't look at the princess's face. She suddenly felt like she didn't belong in this place of the hero's solitude.

"You don't have to leave," he suddenly stated. Diana felt her body warm, again. This was the voice he talked to her shortly after the events on Themyscira; the REAL 'Batman'. "I was hoping…you'd do that chant for them."

She regarded the hero for a moment, before lightly nodding her head, and replying. "Sure." She smiled at the chance to honor the parents of one of her comrades. She clasped her hands together, holding them at her midsection, and began her melodious chant for the two souls.

After a few minutes, Diana ended her song, wiping her eyes afterwards. Batman, in front of her knelt down one last time, slowly letting his hand glide over the signifier for the graves. His mouth moved as he silently paid his respects again, before turning around to face the Amazon. He nodded his head in gratitude, and the two began to walk out of the cemetery the way they had come, leaving field in silence.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

After they were halfway back to the Watchtower, Diana decided now would be an ok time to ask the question that was on her mind. She opened her mouth to speak, but Batman cut her off. "I noticed that, this time, my near-death experience hit you harder than it had before," he informed her. "You had been doing better at keeping your emotions in check, before this. I don't mean that you didn't care, before," he quickly added, as she pursed his lips at her.

"So, obviously," the World's Greatest Detective continued, "the situation changed. I began scanning the Internet, and saw that your friend had passed away, recently. I'm sorry about your loss."

Diana nodded, unable to say anything, right away. She then began to explain her actions from earlier. "He was an interesting man. He didn't have any super powers and yet he had placed himself into a position where he could easily have died. After thinking about it…and seeing what happened to you…and thinking what I've seen in Man's World, so far, I was wondering, 'What am I fighting for?' lately." She giggled slightly. "I think I've finally found that reason."

Batman didn't reply, though he seemed content with her response. A short while later, the Batman piloted the ship into the hangar, and landed. He stood up, in full Batman aura and regalia, and turned to her. "Let's go."

Diana nodded, but before he could walk past her, she grabbed him and pulled him to her. "I promise I won't mention this to anyone," she whispered.

Batman didn't seem to hear her, but Diana understood that he was thanking her within his mind. And the two walked onto the docking bay, amidst questions by their friends of where the two had gone in the past few hours.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Huh…that definitely wasn't anything like I thought it would be when I started. It is basically a conglomeration of several ideas I had, beginning with the similarities between Batman and Steve Trevor, as stated earlier. So, what are your opinions? I'm not to sure I like or dislike this one, but I think it could've gone a lot worse. But, let's here your thoughts! Oh, and if this HAS to be a 'first', I think it would be the first time Batman actually let Diana in…or something like that.


	5. Frère Jacques

Back for more. Man, I'm pumping these things out like nobody's business. Well, this one doesn't really have a first, but it just came to me in a dream…err, I mean 'Only a Dream'. (Heheh…ok, that pun was incredibly pathetic…). I began to wonder if Diana had been caught by John Dee's telepathy, as well, and here's what I came up with. A couple of deleted scenes and additions/subtractions, if you will (because I can't think of my own ideas…I suck. T.T;;; ). Oh, well. R&R, if you would.

**XXXXXXXXX**

**Frère Jacques**

Diana yawned slightly, as she traversed down the hall with the tray and the two mugs filled with steaming coffee. On the tray sat a pair of containers and spoons, one holding cream and the other sugar. She hummed an ancient, joyful, Amazon tune, and smiled as she remembered past times with her sisters back home on Themyscira.

As she walked, she heard the quick footsteps and 'whooshing' of wind behind her. Before he stopped, she turned, confirming her idea of who it was. "Hello, Flash," she greeted.

The red streak stopped, as the young man pouted. "Aww…I thought I'd have the drop on you," he pouted. Diana raised a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle at the prankster's jokes. "So, what brings the Amazon Princess bearing…" he gasped childishly, "Coffee? For Moi!?"

She jerked the tray away from him as he reached for one of the mugs, and frowned at him. "Not for you," she shook a finger at him, accusingly. "It's for Batman." She suddenly felt her cheeks become heated, for a reason she couldn't explain. She also became to feel slightly embarrassed.

This expression and reaction did not go unnoticed by the Scarlet Speedster. He grinned deviously. "Diana's got a crush!!" he sing-songed.

"What is that supposed to mean!?" she stammered, suddenly furious with the red-and-yellow hero.

Flash laid an arm over her shoulder. "Oh, come on, Diana," he cooed. "You can't pull the wool over MY eyes. I've been seeing you two getting close, recently. I thought it was just me, but, apparently…"

Diana cocked an eyebrow at the hero, causing Central City's defender to recoil. "Look, Batman hasn't had much sleep the last week or so, especially the last two or three days," she explained, calmly, yet fiercely. "He has monitor duty, and I was just helping him by getting him some coffee to keep him awake."

"Alright, jeez, calm down," Flash said, gesturing with his hands to emphasize his comment. "I was just teasing. Why so harsh?"

Diana opened her mouth to reply, but caught herself. Why was she so defensive? She didn't have an answer to that. "I'm sorry…" Diana muttered. "I think this week has been taxing on me, as well."

"I'll say," the speedster nodded. "I've been running so much, that even MY legs are starting to cramp. What, with the earthquake in Indonesia, and the Hurricane in the Gulf…That jailbreak at Striker's…It was a busy week, even for immortal warrior women, I'd wager. Plus, I got this kink in the back of my neck. D'you think you could give me one of your good ol' Amazoness stretch-massages, later?"

Diana, who was barely able to keep up with the hero's hurried monologue, found herself giggling slightly, again. "Sure, right after I give Batman his coffee," she told him. She turned, as she heard a quiet victory cheer from behind her, as the two marched to the Monitor Room.

The door slid open, and they entered the quiet room, when Diana felt something was wrong, and stopped. Flash, who wasn't paying close attention, ran into her back. "What's going--" he began, when she placed a hand over his mouth. She placed a finger to her mouth, signifying to be quiet.

"Do you hear that?" she whispered.

Flash blinked a couple times in confusion, and raised a hand to his ears, as if he was supposed to be trying to listening for something, specifically. "I don't hear a thing…" he bemusedly answered.

"That's just it. Batman should be in here, but there's no sound of him." Flash gasped lightly, and nodded firmly, understanding her concerns. She gestured for him to stay in the spot he was standing on, turned, and began to float a few inches above the ground, towards the chair the Crusader had been sitting in.

Flash kept an eye out for anything suspicious, before turning back to watch Diana. She finally got to the side of the chair in front of the main computer, and saw her eyes widen in shock. He prepared for the worst, when he saw her cover her mouth, and seemed to be…laughing?

"Uhh…" he stood in confusion. He sped over as fast and quietly as he could, and saw what she was chuckling at. Batman was sitting in the chair, leaning on his fist, which was supported on the arm of the chair. He snored lightly, and in a continuous inhaling and exhaling pattern. "Oooh…" he flinched. "This is a side he really shouldn't show to other people…" The hero shook his head in disgust before silently speeding out of the room.

Diana wondered where he headed off, as she sat the tray down onto the table away from the keyboard and computer mainframe. As she waited for Flash to return, she watched the Dark Knight as his chest rose and fell in a calm, stoic rhythm, matching. She smiled, as she remembered what Flash had said, then realized she was in a rare position.

'This is a side he NEVER shows to people…' she mused. He was always awake, alert. He was always calm, stoic, yet quick to action and always seemed to be battling something within him. He was so methodic, it was like he was a machine. It made it difficult to remember that he was one without any superpowers, except maybe the gift of his mind, because of the image he constantly displayed. Now, he seemed so peaceful. Almost…human.

The sounds of Flash's quick, but quiet, footsteps echoed in the room. She turned to see that he held a large blanket from one of the rooms, presumably Batman's scarcely used bed. He handed the folded sheet to the Amazon, and motioned for her to put it on him. She gave a the hero with a questioning look, when he explained, "You can float and are more gentle than I am. I might wake him up."

She inspected his visage, and noted that there was something he wasn't sharing, but shrugged. She floated in the air, again, and drifted in front of snoozing detective. She smiled warmly and slowly began draping the now-unfolded covering atop of him.

It happened all to sudden for both the Fastest Man Alive and the Amazon Princess, and seemed far too fast to be human. Batman immediately awoke and, in one motion, grabbed the arm closest to him, twisted it, somersaulted behind her, withdrew a Batarang, and held it to her neck.

The breath in Diana's lungs caught itself in its throat. And Flash gasped in shock, before shouting. "What the…!?"

Batman had a scowl full of rage and an urge to strike the final blow. Flash dashed over to Batman and grabbed his arm. "Let…Her…GO!!" he hollered at the Dark Knight.

This seemed to snap Batman out of whatever illusion he had imagined himself to be in. His mouth unclenched itself, releasing the tension he held within. He shoved the Princess forcefully away from him and stumbled backwards, dropping to a knee and holding his head gingerly with his hand. His breaths were ragged and heavy.

Diana lifted a hand to her shoulder, which was sore due to the move the Caped Crusader had performed. She turned towards her comrade, angrily expecting an explanation, but when she saw the man dripping in sweat, seemingly completely a wreck, she froze. She then advanced to place a comforting hand on his shoulder, when Flash stopped her by placing his own hand onto Diana's wrist. The Amazon glanced sadly at the speedster, who in turn shook his head.

After a few moments, the breaths stopped, the sweat dried up, and the Dark Knight stood up with his intimidating aura emanating at full power. "Sorry," he gruffly said, as normal as if it were an everyday occurrence. He clambered over to the chair he had been sleeping in, and sat back down, typing on the computer, and checking up on various hotspots for criminals.

"Batman…I brought you your coffee," she gestured towards the tray, which he graciously took, and downed in two gulps.

He didn't thank her, but nodded his approval. Flash watched the scene unfold, before deciding to interrupt to lighten the mood in the room. "So…" he turned to the Amazon, "how about that massage?"

Diana just shook her head. "You have a one-track mind, don't you?" Flash stuck his tongue out in response, which caused the heroine to stifle another chuckle. "C'mon." And the two left the Batman to listen to the clicks from his fingers flying over the keyboard.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Diana laid in bed, exhausted, as the comfort of her bleach-white sheets formed across her figure, up to the upper part of her chest. She rolled over to her other side, sighing in pleasure on her soft, comforting mattress. The pillows on her bed were strewn all over, and a soft, cooling breeze drifted into her massive stone chambers. Slowly, but surely, the Amazon sensed the rays of the morning sun creeping along the floor to her coverings through the heavy drapes.

She felt the sunlight begin to tickle her cheek warmly, and wearily opened an eye in annoyance at the interfering illumination. She sat up, yawning loudly and stretching, as the blankets slipped off her body. She grabbed a robe that had been sitting next to her bed on a stand, and slipped it on, covering her smooth, creamy skin.

She walked barefoot along the stone floor and reached for the cloth covering the window, and withdrew it from view. She grinned at the picture perfect view of the rising sun over the horizon, which created a reddish-yellow halo over the trees and fields. After a few moments, however, Diana became perturbed, and scratched her head, wondering why she should be disturbed by this paradise.

She suddenly realized why. There wasn't a sound. Not a sound, anywhere. No chirping of birds, splashing of water, chattering of rodents. Nothing.

She frowned in curiosity and confusion, and rushed to put her costume on. She strapped her lasso onto her belt, and began to fly into the sky, flying all over the world. However, the more she scoured the planet, the more and more she came to realize that there wasn't a single living being, outside of plants, anywhere.

She suddenly became desperate. "Superman!?" she called out. "Batman!? Flash!! ANYBODY!!" Her voice echoed into the distance, unhindered by anything disturbances that would normally come from the world filled with people.

After several hours of flying, night began to fall, and she landed on the ground in the midst of an enormous forest. "What happened here?" Diana worriedly. "Hera…help me!"

Suddenly, a light flashed behind her. She covered her eyes with her arms to dim the light, and grunted at in frustration. Stepping through the vortex was an enormous caped being, with a blue hood covering his head, except for his face, which was a large talking skull.

Diana gasped. "Who are you!?" she cried angrily.

"Dr. Destiny," he bowed mockingly. "You're my first patient from the Justice League, Princess Diana of Themyscira. I hope you're honored."

"Patient!?" Diana roared. "What do you mean!?"

"I mean, your therapeutic treatment, my dear," he stated,. His voice was mesmerizing and hypnotic, due to its quiet tone and mystic charm. He sauntered up to the Amazon, and loomed over her. He allowed his claw to gently lift her chin towards him. "You're trapped in your own dream world. A place you can't get out of, by yourself. In this world, your immortality has caused you to outlive everyone and everything else that you held close."

"But…" Diana's mind suddenly had a thought happily cross her mind. "My sisters…!" And she raced off towards her homeland.

A short time later, she landed on an island that SHOULD have been where Themyscira was, and, in fact the Ancient Greek structures stood, though they were now covered in vines and shrubbery, seemingly long deserted. She placed her hands to her mouth, and shouted as loud as her voice could carry. "Antiope! Pentheslia! MOTHER!!" At the last, she felt the energy fall from her, and dropped to her knees. She covered her face in her hands, tears stinging her eyes, dripping from between her fingers.

She heard someone land behind her and whirled around to see the nightmarish villain standing behind her. "They were called back home to Mount Olympus by the gods. Hard for someone who was banished from such a holy place to be able to follow them, isn't it? Now, you're all alone."

Diana finally snapped at the last and threw her hardest punch at the villain, who easily caught it within his grasp. "Don't you see, you're in my world now. And you, my Princess, belong to me." The villain begin to laugh a hideous, psychotic cackle that caused Diana's skin to crawl and her spine to freeze, as she realized she was trapped within her own mind, unable to do anything.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Batman stood on the docks outside of Lexcorp.'s Harbor Warehouse. The waves lapped up onto the dock, creating an ocean-mist-like effect around the Dark Knight, as he walked closer to the entrance. He slowly felt his mind begin to run on autopilot, before shaking his head furiously to wake himself up. He had a job to do.

The Crusader busted the door down with a sharp kick to the middle of it. He was more used to sneaking around, waiting for the opportune moment, but that was no longer an option once J'onn had informed him of Dee's ex-wife's demise. He began to wonder if any of his comrades in the Watchtower had succumbed to Dee's psychotic torture. 'No,' he told himself. 'Not while I'm standing.' The telepath probably was already aware of his presence, anyway, so espionage would do him little good. No, now was the time for a quick strike.

Batman walked through the darkness he commonly called home. This time, though, for the first time, he felt he was fighting against it. He came upon a wall that had been destroyed which lead into a bathroom, when a voice spoke to him from seemingly nowhere.

"Coming here was the mistake of your life," the mesmerizing tone informed him. Batman flinched, priming a Batarang, and glancing at the mirrors above the sink. He saw the skull-face and blue hood of the man, and whirled around to see if he was behind him. When he saw there was nobody around, he disarmed his weapon and placed back into his belt.

"See…the closer I am to someone, the stronger I get," he explained matter-of-factly. "I'll be able to go into your brain, even if you are wide awake."

Batman grimaced, as he recalled some of the more traumatic events in his life, and narrowed his eyes. A grim smirk slowly spread across his face, before he noted aloud, "My brain's not a nice place to be."

He slowly began to hum an old tune, _Frère Jacques_, within his mind from his childhood. Soon, he hummed it out loud, and it echoed throughout the bathroom and subsequent hallways. A puddle of water that was dripping onto the floor begun to take the shape of the costumed villain, but almost as quickly as it had begun, it dispersed from view.

The Dark Knight walked over to the puddle, which now bore the face of the telepath within it. "What's that stupid song going through your mind!?" it exasperatedly growled.

"It's what's keeping you out, Johnny," Batman smugly stated, advancing ever closer onto his opponent's position.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Diana sat alone in the middle of the forest of silence, unable to hear a single sound but the wind's rustling of the trees. She had flown around for days - possibly weeks - to discover what she already knew to be the truth. She was alone. This is what her immortality might lead to, now that she had abandoned her Amazoness sisters. She felt a lump grow in her throat. "Is this how…I'll end up if I continue on…?" she wondered aloud.

Soon, however, the noise of the wind changed. Something began to be carried over with the rustling of the breeze. The Amazon placed her hand to her ear. It sounded like someone - or something- was humming a tune. It was faint, but…

Diana leapt to her feet and took flight in the direction of the noise, hoping the noise wouldn't fade away before she had a chance to find the source. The voice was familiar, and not only did it give Diana hope, but it filled her with an inexplicable warmth.

She flew as fast as her abilities would allow, occasionally catching the wind to speed her up some more, as she raced towards the source. She landed back at the place where she had awoken to find her chambers untouched since she last laid there. She walked in, and heard the humming at its loudest, but still found no one. She let her sorrow consume her, walking over to her mirror, she gazed into it.

Her features had become messy and rugged from all the travel and lack of sleep. Her hair was unkempt and her skin was flushed. She slowly gave up and leaned up against the sink that held the mirror, sliding down the marble plumbing, she landed onto her backside, and wrapped her arms around her head, sobbing heavily. She barely heard the humming anymore, but it didn't matter, her exhausted body wouldn't allow her to continue.

She glanced to her side and saw a dagger arm's length away from her. "Maybe…if it would end my suffering…" The Amazon, seeing no other alternative, reached for the knife and clasped it within her grasp. The cold metal stung, slightly, and she found that any warmth her hands had was gone. She turned the blade around and around, before deciding it was better than being stuck in her prison forever, and prepared to do it.

"Coming here was the worst mistake of you life," Dr. Destiny's mystical voice said. Diana cocked an eyebrow and looked around, expecting to see the villain, but did not. She wondered where his harmonious tone was coming from when it continued, "See…the closer I am to someone, the stronger I get."

The young woman stood up, now thoroughly shocked she could hear the voice so clearly, and looked around, fists at the ready. She had dropped the dagger from her grasp, which clattered on the ground, though she paid it no heed. She whirled around and saw an image. It looked like some sort of bathroom, somewhere. It was dank and dreary. "I'll be able to go into your brain, even if you are wide awake," the voice sneered.

"My brain's not a nice place to be," a gruff voice replied, almost with the same tone. Instantly, a familiar visage walked past the part of the bathroom she saw.

"Batman!" she cried, pounding on the glass to get his attention. He didn't respond to her, however, causing her to realize she wouldn't be able to get him to notice her, in this way.

Shortly after walking past the mirror, the humming began again. The culprit, she realized now, was Batman, as the telepath began to try to insult the hero. "What's that stupid song going through your mind!?" the villain grumbled.

Diana could almost feel the smug grin the Dark Knight had, when he replied, "It's what's keeping you out, Johnny."

The mirror's view changed to another part of the building they - Batman and Dr. Destiny - were in, as Batman stopped at a staircase, leading into several different directions. He slowly turned and began climbing the stairs upwards, when he stopped after two flights.

The scowl that formed made Diana wonder what was going on. "All you need to do is go up!" Diana called to him. Then, she remembered that Destiny said he got stronger the closer someone was to him, so obviously he was trying everything he could to thwart the World's Greatest Detective from discovering his location.

Diana noticed that the mirror's focus seemed to fade, slightly, and the Destiny was either losing his power, or focus. She could feel his desperation, which was no more apparent than with their next discussion.

"You know I could let you go," the villain artfully considered, hiding his troubled feelings underneath his mask. "You're a distraction, now, and it's the others I have the real problem with."

Batman didn't budge from his position. 'Surely, he's not considering his offer…!?' Diana wondered, then immediately felt ashamed at having the thought even come across her mind.

Batman continued turning his head, searching for something. "We're like insects to them," Destiny's voice pressed. "They step on us, ruin our lives, and they don't even realize it!"

Batman allowed a smirk to spread across his face as the hypnotic voice continued on. Even Diana felt that he made a compelling argument, and she was one of the ones that she was being bargained for. "But you're different. You don't have any special powers."

Diana gasped as Batman lowered his head, as if to determine whether the course of action Destiny was offering was a suitable option, when the Dark Knight spoke. "Oh, I have one, Johnny," he informed the man. "I never give up." Again, Batman lowered his head, and the humming, which Diana hadn't noticed had disappeared in the first place, came back, this time louder than before.

Finally, the princess began to hum the tune, as well, which seemed to make the world around her begin to dissolve. She hummed louder, trying to divert the psychic's powers away from her, as both hers and Batman's voices soon became intertwined, eliminating the hold the villain had over her. The space around her turned white, then faded to black.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

The door to the Monitor Room slid open behind the Caped Crusader, who immediately could tell that it must have been the Princess. There no foot steps resounding throughout the room, so she was floating, and she was the only one who would do that in an effort to sneak up on him. The scent of the Amazon didn't help her, any, either.

"What is it, Princess?" the Dark Knight questioned.

The Amazon released a breath she had held in an effort to conceal who it was, and landed next to him. "You're no fun, you know that? Can't you just let me catch you by surprise once in a while?" she jokingly griped.

He smirked at her for a moment, before scanning the satellite images that had come up recently, in case of problems arising. He stifled a short yawn, before continuing, "I'm assuming you aren't here to play games. What's really going on?"

Diana strutted alongside his chair, and in front of the hero, her hands behind her back, and blocked the Crusader's view of the computer screen. "Superman says that…" she cleared her throat, in order to deepen her voice to mimic the hero's, "It's time for Batman to take a break. He hasn't slept in nearly five days." She folded her arms under her chest. "He also said not to take 'no' for an answer."

"Tell Superman that if he finally gets his butt up here for monitor duty, I'll leave," he calmly told her. "And not before."

Diana pouted slightly at the hero, and slowly began to walk away, to leave, Batman assumed, the hero to his own devices. Instead, however, she decided to sit in a chair a short distance away, and folded her legs. She just stared at him, which, under normal circumstances, wouldn't have bothered her, but because he was tired, it became highly uncomfortable.

Finally, he turned to her, and asked the obvious question. "What are you doing?"

"Debating on whether or not to use my secret weapon…" she deviously informed him.

"Secret weapon…?" he wondered aloud. His brow furrowed slightly at the curiosity of what this weapon could be.

Slowly, she closed her eyes and began to hum the tune Batman had used against Dr. Destiny only hours before. "Hmmm hmmm, hm hmm. Hmmm hmmm, hm hmm. Hmm hmm hmmm. Hmm hmm hmmm. Hm hm hm hm hmm hmm, hm hm hm hm hmm hmm. Hmm hmm hmm. Hmm hmm hmm."

After a few more repeats of it, Batman felt his eye lids become heavy, and yawned loudly. He quickly shook his head, finally informing her, "You'll have to do better than that, Princess."

Diana cocked an eyebrow, as if wondering if that was a challenge, before nodding, in response. She inhaled deeply, and began to sing:

"_Frère Jacques, Frère Jacques  
Dormez-vous? Dormez-vous?  
Sonnez les matines! Sonnez les matines!  
Din, dan, don. Din, dan, don."_

Almost instantly, Batman felt the effects of the Amazon's song. Her melodious voice tickled his eardrum, and he,himself, was stunned in many ways. First, how she knew the song, at all. Second, how she knew the lyrics. And, third, how she had been able to get the right tone, volume, and tempo to put…him…fast…

She sang the song once more, to make sure the hero was fast asleep, before she revealed the blanket she had been hiding behind her back. As the Knight snoozed on, she slowly, quietly, glided up to him, and placed the sheet upon him. She sat back down in her chair, and watched over him, as he had, unbeknownst to him, done so only a short while ago.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Justice League peeked into the room, to check on Diana's progress. None of the group actually believe the Amazon would be able to get Batman into a sleeping spell, but figured that Batman would be least likely to retaliate against her.

They were astounded when they found the pair as they were, Diana singing the childhood tune to the Caped Crusader, who was slumped over in his chair, snoring away. Superman was the most intrigued by the view. "Batman's asleep? In front of someone else?"

Flash suddenly grinned and turned to the others. "Maybe…the joke is, in fact, no longer a joke."

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Wow…that's all I have to say about this chapter. First of all, I was so into it, I did it within a four-hour time span. Secondly, I covered EVERYTHING I wanted to in this ficlet. I don't think I've ever felt this good about a chapter/fic, EVER (and, with everything I've written, that's saying something).


	6. Stepping in Time

So, here's number six of my BM/WW stories. This particular is centered around the 'Maid of Honor' episodes, and focuses on how Batman and Wonder Woman have become so in tune that they are able to fight without actually communicating directly with one another, which, if you've seen the episodes, makes them a formidable pair. So, without further ado…

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Stepping in Time**

Diana stood on one side of the room, tightening her gauntlets, and glanced over at her opponent, who was adjusting his boots. The cape-bearing bat took off his utility belt and tossed it to the side, out of reach, as Diana did the same with her lasso. Batman sat on the ground and began to stretch out his limbs, beginning with his legs, as Diana began to perform a series of light torso exercises.

"Are you two almost ready to begin?" a familiar voice echoed after several moments.

"In a second, J'onn," Diana replied. She cracked her neck and knuckles before placing herm arms behind her back and pressing down on her elbow.

"You're only delaying the inevitable, you know," Batman remarked smugly. Diana tossed a glare at him, which he replied with a smirk. The Amazon couldn't keep her own smile from surfacing in return. The two had grown to acknowledge each other's abilities, since they first met, and both accepted each other as equals. As such, it was only natural that the two would end up trying to play a game of one-upsmanship with each other. And today was no different.

Wonder Woman and Batman had recently begun to spar with each other, during long breaks in between major missions. While Diana had known that Batman was an exceptional fighter, she didn't realize just how easily he could adapt to his opponents, even using their strengths to his advantage.

Then again, he was the most experienced crime fighter in the League.

Batman and Diana slowly waltzed over to the middle of the makeshift ring, and faced each other. "You two know the rules," J'onn's voice stated. "No weapons. No super powers. No illegal hits." The young woman blushed at the last. In one of the first fights the two had with each other, a randomly flying Amazoness-strengthened fist found its way below Batman's belt, putting the Dark Knight out of action for the rest of that day and most of the next, despite the protection of a cup.

Batman's mouth tightened slightly at the memory, but otherwise he didn't react at all. Diana surmised that meant he was beginning to get over it. "You may use any other methods to subdue your opponent," J'onn continued, with a voice that sounded like he had been reading the reaction each of them had to his third rule, "When you are about to strike the killing blow, you are to stop."

Diana knew that the return of Batman's tightening mouth meant that he was thinking the same thing. 'How do you kill that which cannot be killed?' J'onn cocked an eyebrow through the window above the pair staring back at him as he explained the instructions. "You know what I mean," he told them.

Batman smirked and Wonder Woman laughed lightly at the Martian's response. "Get ready," the alien demanded. The two got into battle-ready poses. Diana knew that brute strength alone wouldn't affect Batman, especially if no technique in the strike was involved. She also knew, however, that one punch with her strength, even reduced to 'normal' parameters, could easily turn the tide in her favor.

That didn't mean, however, that she wasn't thinking of other ways to do damage to the Caped Crusader.

"Begin!" J'onn's voice rang out, signaling the start of their confrontation. A flurry of questions flooded Diana's mind. What should she start with first, a punch or a kick? Which body part should she target? What would she expect if their positions were reversed?

Batman ended that entire chain of thinking as he went for the most basic approach; a straight punch to her head.

Diana couldn't believe the straightforwardness of his attack, but she took it in stride, sliding out of the way, and sending a fist towards his midsection. The Dark Knight grunted as he spun to his left , and, allowing his momentum to power his attack, ducked down and sliced his heel towards the back of her knee. She gasped and leapt into the air, somersaulting out of the appendage's way. She then performed a 180* of her own and sent a foot towards Batman's chest.

The Bat, in turn, wrapped his arms around her leg, dulling the thud against his solar plexus, and prepared to slam her into the mat. Diana pressed forward with her hands and, taking her other leg and latching it underneath his free armpit, proceeded to flip forward, launching Batman away from her. Batman saw himself approaching the wall and flipped in midair, bringing his feet to face it, and spring boarded off the wall, back towards the heroine.

J'onn watched as the battle raged on for five minutes…ten minutes…fifteen minutes. Neither side wanted to give in or allow the other to get the upper hand, and each were able to land blows consistently on the other, though none were clean blows. J'onn knew, though, that both warriors would need an extended tenure in the Watchtower's Medical Bay after this fight finally ended.

"They know each other so well," Superman announced, as he and Flash walked into the room, and glanced down on the pair from the window.

"Indeed," J'onn replied, pressing a few buttons on the keyboard, bringing up a screen showing their heart rates and other vitals.

"Look at them go…!" Flash muttered, astounded at the ferocity of their attacks.

"They certainly are pulling out all the stops," the Martian informed him. They're fighting not to lose, more than they are to win."

Flash flinched as Diana landed another heel kick to the side of Batman's neck, knocking him off balance towards the mat. The Crusader, however, had already begun using his positioning to his advantage, taking the Amazon down to the mat, and attempting to throw a punch towards the princess's ribs.

"I've never seen Batman like this before…" Superman whispered. The other two looked at him inquisitively, to which he continued, "He's never really been one to enjoy fighting. I mean, he knows how, but it was always like a chore to him, part of fighting crime. But the way he's moving, now…it's almost like he's enjoying himself…"

"Diana's enjoying herself, as well," J'onn noted.

"It kinda looks like they're dancing…" Flash noted, causing the other two to look at him oddly. "You know…in a weird, reading-between-the-lines kinda thing." The two aliens looked at one another before smirking and returning their sights to the battle, which seemed to be reaching a climax.

Diana ducked underneath a thrust from her opponent's fist, and grabbed it. She turned, swept his feet out from underneath him with her right leg, and slammed his prone form into the mat. Batman, however, was already one step ahead of her maneuver, and grabbed her wrist. He took another kick to the ribs, in order to leave Batman open for her own punch to land on him. The feint worked, and the blow struck true, hitting the side of the Dark Knight's face, and knocking him towards the ground.

At least, that was what the Amazon thought.

The Bat smirked when her fist passed his face, allowing him to conduct his counterattack. Diana gasped as she felt something wrap around her leg, then watched as the hero snatched her arm. He somersaulted, twisting himself so his momentum and hers would drill her into the mat. The princess felt her breath leap from her chest, as her back smacked the mat with a loud thud. The pause allowed Batman, who was kneeling over her, to launch the final blow. He led his hand, poised to jab at her, launch towards her heart.

"Stop!" J'onn shouted. The Knight's fingers lingered a few centimeters from Wonder Woman's suit. The two heroes breathed heavily, finally able to get large amounts of oxygen into their lungs. Several long moments passed before the Knight picked himself up from the ground, helping the Princess to her feet in the process.

"Time," Batman stated, narrowing his brow when he saw that Superman and Flash had entered the room, as well.

"Seventeen minutes, forty-two seconds," the green-skinned hero answered. He began typing on the keyboard in front of him. "I'll send you the data and the video so you can analyze it."

"Good," Batman said. "Send the Princess a copy, too. She needs to have something to do, being cooped up here all the time." Diana cocked an eyebrow at him and pursed her lips in annoyance, to which the Dark Knight just smirked.

"They're cute together," Flash muttered, as the warriors below them left the arena. The trio up in the tower looked at each other, then they all began to chuckle and laugh at his comment of the two heroes.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

"What do you mean 'I need something to do'!?" Diana grumbled exasperatedly, as Batman watched the screen discussing a newscast about some space station from some country called Kasnia. "I keep myself busy all the time!"

"So says the one who hasn't ever tried to actually see 'Man's World' without having to save it," Batman replied, stroking the stubble on his chin as he clicked on another button that seemed to bring up an article about the topic.

Diana clicked her tongue. "I've seen plenty of Man's World!" she announced.

Batman grunted, which Diana assumed was his attempt at a laugh, as he re-watched the segment again, writing down a few notes on a page of a notebook he had on his lap. "I do!" Diana insisted. Batman seemed unconvinced, but didn't turn to respond, so Diana seemed to try a different approach. "And like you have any reason to argue. All you do is hide in the shadows! Like you have ever been to a social event!"

Batman just stood up and closed the window to the video, and turned to walk out of the room. "You need to get out more, and see the world from more than just a television screen," he simply stated. She could almost hear the grin growing on his face. She stuck her tongue out at her, something she acquired from one of the shows she had begun watching, then realized what she was doing.

She sat down in the chair Batman had just been sitting in, and growled to herself. "What an infuriating individual…" she grouchily mentioned. Her eyes traversed down to something that was touching her elbow, and noticed that a yellow piece of paper that had been folded into sections.

As she took the paper and unfolded it, she noticed that it was ordained with elegant writing and designs. On the bottom, it listed her name, written in fairly elegant cursive, as the owner of the invitation. She tapped the notation to her cheek a couple of times, before mentally stating, 'I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try something new.' She giggled to herself and smiled softly before continuing, 'He could've just asked me, though.'

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Bruce smiled as the couple he had been talking to walked away from him, turning to shake his head in annoyance when they were far enough away to not notice. 'What a bunch of superficial fools,' he mused, taking small dash of champagne in his glass, and sipping it.

A murmuring began to erupt behind him. He rolled his eyes, expecting that someone else he didn't really care for had noticed him, and plastered on his playboy smile. He whirled around, his eyes closed, and declared, "Hello, there!" When no one responded, he opened one of his eyes, and noticed that there was no one else around him. He cocked an eyebrow, then saw a group of people muttering to each other, and pointing in a direction on the wall furthest from the hors d'œuvres.

He turned his head towards the direction they were pointing and nearly dropped his champagne glass. A young woman draped in a long sleek black dress that seemed to sparkle in the glistening lights from the ceiling. Her hair shimmered and effortlessly flowed loosely along her shoulders and neck, which appeared to have had spent considerable amount of time on. She had matching black high-heels, which glistened, as well. He body was slender, but she carried herself with an authority that demanded respect. An odd addition to her ensemble was a pair of silver bracers that went halfway up her forearms.

'Bracers!?' Bruce gaped, shaking his head. 'Princess, you _must_ know that those aren't in fashion right now…'

The young femme fatale turned her head as she looked around, searching for someone she recognized, or at least someone who wasn't going to probe her mind about the League or her adventures before she joined.

Bruce sat and sipped on his champagne, and watched as everyone soon recognized who she was, and began to surround her. "Wonder Woman! Wonder Woman!" they all began to chant, trying to get her attention.

Bruce began to hear questions arise from the paparazzi, such as, "How is it working with Superman?" and "Were you scared when you fought the aliens?". She looked quite flustered and a little surprised. It was obvious the flashing lights weren't helping her any, either.

"Amateur," Bruce muttered, as he watched with great amusement to the Amazon's complete and utter dismantling from the scores of writers, photographers, and fans. 'The Amazon who is the greatest fighter in the League other than Superman, and she can't fend off a few measly newscasters. Riveting.'

After a few moments, Bruce decided she had enough punishment for her crack earlier about him not going out into the world, and began to advance on her. After hearing the most amusing question of the night, that being 'Are you really from an island with no men', he straightened his tie, reached out to her, and raised his voice over the crowd. "May I have this dance?"

She looked over to her recent well-wisher, looking fairly confused and quite incensed, when her eyes widened in surprise, momentarily. She then smiled warmly. "Yes!" she shouted, grabbing his hand.

He led her away from the crowds and onto the dance floor, free from the masses of nuisances. He sensed she was about ready to open her mouth, when he brushed a finger against his lips, causing her to be silent. He took her hand, and began to lead her through the rhythm of the song. He should have noticed with her ability to stretch and be limber during battle, especially with all of the matches they had been having recently, but he had never really paid attention to just how graceful she could be, when she wanted to.

"Thank you, Mister…" Diana paused, wondering what to call him.

"Wayne," he announced. "Bruce Wayne."

She laughed slightly. "I appreciate the rescue."

Bruce nodded, as he led her through the dance, before continuing. "I'm surprised to see you here." She cocked an eyebrow at him. "From what I've heard this really isn't your sort of affair." A quirky smile threatened to crease his lips, but he managed to keep his same playboy grin on.

Diana opened her mouth, but quickly closed it, frowning at him. Then she smirked, and nodded her in a mutual understanding. "I've decided to get out more. Have a little fun," she haughtily explained, causing his quirky smile to rise again. She made a slight face for a moment, and this time, Bruce couldn't hold his humorous side down, as he chuckled slightly.

Diana released his one hand, and flew away from him, before spinning back into his body. "Enjoying yourself so far?" he gruffly whispered into her ear.

"More than I expected," she replied with a smile that held some combination of emotions he hadn't seen from her before. "How about you?" she questioned, forcing Bruce out of his reverie, before he could determine the mix of emotions on her face. "What brings you to the City of Lights?"

Bruce brought up the mask of the playboy back, as she backed away from him during their dance. "I never miss a good party," he heartily stated. "I may also have to attend to some business while I'm in town." The pair glided across the floor, as Bruce tried to determine what exactly the look on her face meant. The elegant song neared the end, when a crash exploded from the ceiling, causing everyone to look up.

Bruce and Diana both gasped, releasing each other, and frowned. "Excuse me," they both replied, Bruce noticing he said it slightly harsher than he wanted, hoping Diana wouldn't catch on.

"Diana…!" he realized. He turned and saw that the Amazon had already begun to fight, slicing through the rope holding the captured princess of Kasnia, Audrey, via a safety belt. The Princess caught the other princess after a few seconds the rope was cut, and Bruce took the time to sit back and watch the seen unfold, helping himself to some escargot nearby.

It was over long before it started. There was a group of six men, two of which were brutalized by the Amazon before they could even respond. Diana then grabbed a third and tossed him across the room near where Bruce was standing. The sixth one, which Bruce assumed was the leader, began rising back up the rope, while Diana took care of the remaining two.

Bruce noticed that the one Diana had thrown nearby was starting to get back up and aimed his weapon at the Warrior Princess. Bruce tossed a glass of champagne from the table with his escargot at the man, which got into his eyes and blurred his vision. Unbeknownst to the crowds, who were either evacuating the premises or mesmerized by the Amazon, Batman took a handful of appetizers and stuffed them into the man's mouth. He put the man in a hammerlock and placed his forearm across his carotid artery, in order to make certain he couldn't escape, and whispered in Kasnian, "Come with me quietly, and you won't be harmed."

The man seemed to resist, which forced the Dark Knight to tighten the hold. The man choked with his mouth full of food, and tried to turn and face his kidnapper, when he slipped into unconsciousness, due to lack of blood flow. Slowly, Bruce snuck out of the room to a secluded area, in order to change and begin to interrogate hi captive.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

_Bruce sat in a chair, awaiting for the Amazoness princess to return home. He began to mull over the new information that he had acquired from his first captive at the party, which led to the heist in the government technological building, and his second hostage, who had explained why they needed the technology._

_'To build more weapons,' Bruce reiterated in his mind. But something still didn't fit. The technology they had was highly advanced, but they weren't from the Resistance, but Kasnia's own military. Were they trying to end the rebels once and for all, or could there be plan for a coup by a different organization that had not yet revealed itself to the public? What kind of motives did this new group have? The weapons embargo could be at stake, but some of the pieces weren't fitting together, yet._

_Batman frowned as he thought about the notes he had received again, when a door slowly opened from the other room. 'Ah…time to end this,' he told himself._

_She walked into the room, looking thoroughly tired, and stifled a yawn with her hand, taking off her newly acquired shoes. She hadn't even noticed him, yet. "You're keeping late hours," he softly stated._

_Diana looked up quickly in surprise at the hero. Batman released his folded hands, and rested them on the arms of the chair. She grinned at him, responding, "You should talk." She tossed her shoes over in the corner, and straightened to her full height, though he couldn't tell if it was an effort to intimidate him or just because he was happy to see him. He prayed it wasn't the latter. "Checking up on me?" she wondered in a tone of mock sweetness he never noticed out of her, before. She placed her hands on her hips and gave a knowing smirk to the Knight._

_He grunted at her, which she rolled her eyes at. "Not especially," he told her. She shook her head. She knew he meant 'yes'. "But I do read the papers."_

_She cocked her eyebrows at the last. "Your point?"_

_Batman stood up and took her stance, which now demanded full intimidation at him. "You've been running in rarified circles," he announced. Diana frowned, knowing that he meant, 'You're running with someone like Bruce Wayne.' She shook her head and began to walk away from the hero. "I thought you should know that some of those people aren't always what they appear to be." He left the, 'You'll ruin your reputation just by being in the newspaper with him for weeks,' up in the air._

_Diana turned to him, with a look of near-pity, which didn't make the Crusader happy. 'Let me make my decisions for myself, please. I may be new to this kind of lifestyle, but I can take care of myself.'_

_Bruce frowned, but let the discussion end there. Diana nodded, and continued, "If you're talking about Princess Audrey, she's a sweet girl. Spoiled rotten…but sweet."_

_Both knew that he didn't mean Audrey, in particular, but they decided to drop the issue, for now. Batman began to explain the Intel he received from his two captives. "Several hours ago, I captured a burglar, part of a team stealing classified weapons technology from Star Labs, among other places."_

_"So?" Diana wondered, obvious that she didn't care about the current conversation, wanting to go back to the previous one they were having, though they weren't exchanging words._

_Batman's brow furrowed. "He's a Kasnian Special Forces officer," he finished._

_Diana gasped slightly. "I don't believe Audrey would be involved in anything like that!" she growled. Batman's mouth tightened in annoyance. The Amazon sighed, and considered for a moment. "But it wouldn't hurt to ask her."_

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Diana hung against the wall, her arms chained to the wall. She had already fruitlessly tried to muscle her way out of her bonds, but the energy pulsating through the cuffs made her unable to gather enough strength in order to break them. She took a break, trying to focus her strength in her limbs, again, before noticing one of the guards had walked in front of the cell.

He smirked at the young woman, and cursed in his native language at the heroine, who contorted her face in anger back at him. The soldier's brow furrowed at Wonder Woman's anger, when something zoomed behind him. He whirled around to see what it was, before hearing a loud 'chink' of metal on stone. He turned towards the far wall, and saw a blinking red light on it.

Diana, knowing that object was an explosive, shut her eyes, as an explosion rang out from the wall, causing debris to fly all over the place. The guard raced over to the wall, barking out something in Kasnian, as a few more armed guards hurried passed her, towards the result of the explosion.

Diana figured this was her chance to escape, and put all her strength into one fierce pull, when she saw something move in the shadows. 'You're actually coming to help me?' she cocked an eyebrow.

The white lenses of the moving shadow seemed to narrow. 'You'd rather I come back for you?'

The Amazon smirked at him, as he effortlessly picked the lock to the door, and silently swung it open. He walked towards her, extracting an object from his utility belt, and began firing the laser at the cuff on her left arm. "That won't distract them for long," he stated.

Having freed one of her arms, the Dark Knight focused his attention on the second one, when he heard footsteps behind him. He ducked down, allowing the Princess to thrust her fist into the face of his attacker, which knocked him aside. The two remaining soldiers that had checked the diversion had returned, as well, and raised their rifles at the two heroes.

They never pulled the trigger, as Batman had already lunged his body forward, towards the pair. He drilled his knee into the forehead of the first one, who flew into the second soldier. Both of them ran into the wall behind them, and slumped to the floor unconscious.

The Crusader turned towards a door, when he heard something jar loose, and noticed the door to the elevator was opening. He tossed his laser to the Amazon, who caught it and began working to release herself from her remaining binds.

The door to the lifter opened, reveling another small squad of Kasnian forces, who charged towards the Dark Knight. Batman slid across the floor, thrusting a jab into the abdomen of one of the soldiers, and disarming him. He then used his moment to carry his weight around, and kicked the feet of another soldier out from under him, disabling him, as well.

The Amazoness had freed herself, by this time, and began to race out towards the battle. Batman had found himself cornered by his adversaries, and looked to be raising his arms up in surrender, though the soldiers obviously had orders to kill him on sight. Their weapons clicked into place.

Batman raised his grappling hook up and fired first, as Diana deflected the bullets that sped towards the Dark Knight. He rose up to the ceiling, and, before the guards had a chance to change their target to him, again, had launched a trio of Batarangs at the warriors, which struck all three in the skull, and sent them to the ground.

Batman unlatched his grapple, and deftly landed beside the Amazon. Batman turned to her slightly, a small smile - or at least almost one - on his face. 'Thanks'.

Diana placed an arrogant grin on her visage. 'At least now I know why you went through the trouble of saving me.'

Bruce turned forward, his face turned back into his Batman scowl. 'Don't push your luck, Princess.' The two raced down the hall towards the now empty elevator. Batman hurriedly keyed the top level, once Diana stepped in beside him, and they rose to the main hallway.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Batman glanced around the corner, looking for opposing guards, as Diana and Audrey stayed back several yards, awaiting for him to tell them it was all clear. Diana glanced behind them, to make sure they wouldn't get attacked from behind. She glanced back at Batman, who ducked back into the shadows, as someone looked back at them.

Audrey looked at Diana, then to the Dark Knight, and grinned. "You know…" she muttered to her comrade, "…maybe I should ask him to be my next suitor, once we stop Vandal."

Diana was slightly taken aback by the queen's openness and sudden declaration, before looking back at the Crusader. "Why him?" she wondered, with a little more annoyance than she wanted. Audrey's grin to widen.

"Why not?" she questioned. "He seems fairly dependable. He's smart, strong…well, maybe not compared to your physical strength so much…but he has an inner strength that seems unmatched. I like that kind of mystery about men."

Diana cocked an eyebrow, which must have caused her face to look kind of like jealousy to the Kasnian royalty, because she began to laugh, covering her mouth quickly to stifle it. "I'm just teasing, Diana," she murmured. "I won't take your boyfriend from you."

"Wha…Boyfriend!?" Diana shouted. This caused one of the patrollers to rush around the corner where the Dark Knight had been.

"Kash knai!" he cried, pointing his rifle at the pair. Three more soldiers raced around the corner and raised their weapons at them. Diana stepped in front of her friend, and motioned for the younger princess to get behind her.

Suddenly, a whistling sound filled the air, and an object struck one of the guns of the soldiers, causing it to explode. The distraction allowed Diana to burst forward and roundhouse kick three of the guards aside. Another whoosh came out of nowhere, followed by a grunt and a thud. The Amazon looked behind her and saw the Crusader standing up from the ground.

He turned to them, smirking. 'Thanks for the distraction.'

Wonder Woman placed her hands across her chest and glared at him. 'You could've said something, you know.'

"If you two are done fawning over me, I suggest we get moving," the hero grunted. Diana's mouth dropped open, causing Batman to gesture his thumb to his ear. 'Your communicator was left on.' Diana growled in annoyance at the man, while Audrey grinned behind them.

The pair raced down the hall, only stopping once more, as Batman silently subdued another foe. The finally burst into the control room, neither even looking at each other, before rushing to either side of the room. Batman somersaulted away from a spray of bullets, bounced off the wall, and punched one of the two soldiers in the face, slicing a kick to knock away the other one. He withdrew a Batarang at a third who had been aiming his weapon at the Amazon flying in behind the Dark Knight, eliminating him as well.

Diana flew towards the other side of the room, and elbowed a guard taking aim at the Bat, while throwing out a backhand at another approaching enemy. She turned and faced Colonel Vox, as he prepared to unleash his sound wave weapon. Diana marched forward, focusing all her attention on the opponent ahead of her. She vaguely heard the thud of another armed guard being defeated by Batman, as she advanced on her target. She grabbed the metallic throat of the officer and crushed it, punching him into the chair that had just been evacuated by Savage.

Batman hurried to the control console, but saw that Savage had beaten him to it. He grabbed a chair and slammed the bottom of it at the immortal. He grabbed the suit of the commander of Kasnia and launched him away from the console, and hastily began to type on the keyboard.

'It's not going to work…' he mentally noted. He then began typing again, this time hitting several different keys than he was before, when his COM link began to beep loudly in his ear.

"Batman, I wasn't able to shut down the rail gun," J'onn explained.

"Me either, but I did change its target location," the Dark Knight replied.

Diana turned to him, calling over her shoulder as she began to carry some of the unconscious bodies, "Where'd you send it?"

Batman smirked, and faced her. "Right here."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Batman and Wonder Woman watched as Vandal Savage was lead away by several Kasnian guards and Queen Audrey. Diana sighed heavily, happy that the current crisis was over, not only because it was another mission well done by the Justice League, but that her friend Audrey seemed to have grown up some during the ordeal. She knew that Kasnia would be in good hands, as long as the queen was able to keep her eyes on her goals.

Diana turned and smirked at Batman, who cocked an eyebrow back at her. The Amazon began to hum a tune, that sounded quite similar to the song back in Paris that she and Bruce Wayne had been dancing to. She placed her hands behind her back in the playful way she did when she felt like messing with the hero. She started to strut forward, then turned on her heel, and stopped directly in front of the Crusader. She turned to face him, putting on an innocent grin, while Batman's mouth stayed firm. "You know…" she mused, "…we never did get to finish our dance."

Batman's visage didn't change, but he didn't answer right away either. She supposed he was either trying to act like he didn't understand what she meant, or that he was plotting a way to respond to her. If it was the latter, she had already beaten him by being unpredictable, again. "I don't know what you're talking about," he finally stated.

The smirk on Diana's face grew wider, and she rolled her eyes. "If you say so…" she murmured, before grabbing his arm and dragging him over to her. "But you're still taking me dancing." She proceeded to drag him off away from the smoking remains of the castle to the awaiting Batwing, to take them back to the Watchtower.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Batman and Diana stood in the Watchtower's training room, each preparing themselves for the coming conflict. Batman disconnected his utility belt, tossing it aside, and Wonder woman did the same with her lasso. The Dark Knight then readied himself, getting into a fighting stance. Diana just stood with her arms at the ready, appearing as if she had a Greco-Roman style of combat.

"There's no J'onn to stop us, this time, Princess," Batman sneered. "You think you can keep up?"

Diana shrugged calmly, despite the eagerness her body was filled with. "I'll make sure I don't hurt you too bad," she replied smugly.

Batman just smirked and gestured her to come after him. Diana didn't think about it, this time, simply charging ahead, feinting to the left, before swinging with her right. The Dark Knight was mildly surprised at her suddenness, but not so much that he couldn't dodge it, planning the next few segments of moves.

He grabbed the Amazon's extended arm with his left hand, and declared his victory to himself. He thrusted his right hand forward towards a pressure point under her shoulder in an effort to disable her and end the fight quickly.

The effort was wasted, as Diana knew what he was up to, and raised her free arm and her right knee to block the maneuver. She grabbed the Bat's hand with the hand she blocked with and grasped the wrist of the arm that had snatched her forearm. She whirled around a few times, before releasing the Dark Knight, sending him flying towards the wall.

The rotation was able to stun the Crusader long enough that he wasn't able to prepare himself for the proper landing. He still was able to stick his foot out on the ground to slow himself down to minimize the damage done, but Diana was already advancing on the warrior, again.

The Amazon launched a kick towards the hero, who took the kick full on with his chest, letting the Kevlar take the brunt of the blow. Batman could tell, though, that several of his ribs were cracked or bruised. Batman skidded across the floor, before hand springing backwards, landing on his feet.

He narrowed his eyes at the Princess, who noted that he wasn't all too happy that she pulled the last attack. Diana shook her head in disbelief. 'If I had went full strength, I could've knocked you out.' Batman grunted in an annoyed response. Diana shrugged. 'You asked for this.' She flew full speed at the hero, and reared back for a full blown strike at her insistent prey.

She never got the chance. Batman had predicted that her intolerance of his behavior would cause her to act upon instinct. That gave him his chance. He slid to the side at the last minute, out of the way of the Princess's full-strength punch. The Dark Knight then thrusted his knee into the ribs of the Princess, knocking the wind out of her. He then grabbed her leg, and slammed the Princess onto her back, knocking the wind out of her and stunning her prepared to go for the exact same blow as he did before, making his hand become a dagger-like weapon, and ready to send it down towards the Amazon.

Diana was prepared this time, however. She wrapped her legs around the Crusader, who grunted in surprise and pain. Diana paused for a second in remorse, before reminding herself he, himself, had asked for it. She rolled over on top of him, the Dark Knight's body pinned underneath her, and raised her fist to strike him. She threw her fist forward, stopping an inch short of his forehead. The hero's face didn't flinch, even as his demise appeared imminent.

She grabbed his cowl, and rose it above his facial features, looking him in the eyes. She smirked at him and giggled slightly. "How am I supposed to have any fun if you're not going to at least humor me and show me some fear?" she asked him softly.

Bruce's body didn't make any movement at all for a few moments, until his hand crept up underneath her shoulder. "You win this round, Princess," he said, in a soft voice. Diana was surprised at how gentle his voice could be while in his Kevlar suit, before she felt a twinge of pain with an inhalation of air, and felt her body go slightly numb, and roll off to the side, completely out of her control. "Though I could've easily escaped the hold you had on me. It was impressive, nonetheless."

Diana growled in annoyance, as she felt the feeling in her body begin to return almost as quickly as it left. Bruce lowered his hand to her, which she took, raising herself up to her full height. Bruce walked over to the door and keyed a code in, presumably to lock the door. "How's your body feeling?" he asked, walking over to another control panel.

Diana stretched out her limbs, which had begun to tingle with the feeling returning to them. "Alright, I suppose. No thanks to you." Gotham's Own punched another combination into the console in front of him, and a song began to play over the loudspeaker.

"What in Hera's name…?" she began.

"You said I owed you a dance," Bruce mentioned. "I'm inclined to pay back my debts." He raised his hand towards her in a silent invitation to join him. She smiled at him, taking his hand, and the pair began to dance across the practice ring.

As the song began to draw to a close, Diana breathed a sigh, causing Bruce to raise an eyebrow to him. She shook her head at him, before explaining. "This is certainly an awkward place to have a first date, Mr. Wayne."

"You won the bet, and I'm making good on it," the Crusader replied, pulling his cowl back on as the song ended. "You'll have to do something better than win a single fight against me to get something more." He released his hold on her, taking a few steps away from her.

Diana gave him a knowing look, before saying, "Best-of-three?"

Bruce gave his traditional Bat-smirk, before answering. "You're on."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

So, there you go. Not bad. I thought it could've been a little better, had I planned it out better, but it could've been worse, too. I liked the interaction between the two, the way they reacted to each other, as the episode itself was one of the first times Diana had become more…not necessarily 'girly', but more of a young woman, using her 'abilities' and catching the Bat's sarcasm and turning it back to him. I also liked how I had the non-vocal interactions between the two. The next one will have a nice little twist to it, focusing on both Justice Lord and Justice League Batman and Wonder Woman. From there, the plan is to move onto the episodes 'Secret Society', 'Hereafter', 'Comfort and Joy', and 'Starcrossed'. I won't stop, there, but that should give you a prelude for a while. Read and Review, please!


	7. Not Worth Saving

Sweeeeet! I'm back, baby. -Ahem-…Well, here's the next story, which will delve deeply into the Lords' and the League's battle, mainly the two Batmen. I've been told that my last chapter was more of a physical connection than an emotional one, which I'll agree on, but hopefully I'll change that around, this time. I think I did.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Not Worth Saving**

Batman dropped silently into the cave, rappelling down the side of the cliff within the nature-made complex. He released his grapple, deftly landing onto the edge of the platform, knelt down on the ground. Instantaneously, he saw the dimensional portal towards the far wall, near the exit to where the manor would be.

The Bat felt a chill run up his spine, as he thought about what had become of Alfred in this alternate timeline. He had mulled over using the manor entrance for a brief moment, but he wondered if this universe's Alfred would notice that he wasn't the actual Bruce Wayne. Then a thought rose into his mind, wondering if he was dead…or actually condoned the actions of the Justice Lords.

Batman shook his head ferociously, blotting out those ideas from his mind. He had a job to do, find a way to get back to their dimension and stop the Lords from taking over, again.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

_"Nine-one-nine-three-nine," the Crusader declared. Flash gave him an inquisitive look, before keying in the combination. He heard a door unlatch and slid it open., racing to the Knight, and unlocking his hands._

_"How'd you know?" the speedster asked._

_The Bat lowered his head, slightly, before replying. "They're the numbers I always use." He glanced at the hero, again. "How'd you get out?"_

_"I sped up my heart rate until it looked like it flat lined," he stated, matter-of-factly._

_"I didn't know you could do that."_

_"Neither did I," Flash answered, unlocking his other arm. "But I had to come up with something, if you weren't going to."_

_"I couldn't," the Dark Knight informed him, getting an awkward look from the Red Streak. "Not with him anticipating everything I could ever think of." He unlatched the midsection and foot bindings, before continuing. "But who could anticipate you?"_

_After a few moments of releasing the other League members being held captive, Green Lantern aimed his ring towards Superman, and fired a laser to cut the metal blindfold used on the hero. Superman ripped off the remains, his face filled with anger. He began to advance forward, preparing his fists for battle. "I don't know about you, but I'm ready to kick some serious---"_

_Flash sped in front of the red-and-blue hero, arms folded, and giving his best attempt at a glare to the Kryptonian. "You're going to have to wait on that," he announced. "They've got Hawkgirl in a hospital, somewhere."_

_Batman re-connected his utility belt around his waist, and checked his contents, to make sure they were all accounted for. "You need to find out which one she's in and get there before they hear about this," he stated. He closed the last of his compartments, satisfied that he would have enough equipment to suffice._

_"This is your city!" Superman protested hotly, his eagerness to get revenge on the Justice Lords obviously getting the better of them. "You know the hospitals better than we do!"_

_He glanced over his shoulder, causing Superman to widen his eyes in surprise, noting that the Caped Crusader looked even grimmer than normal. "I have a portal to find," he grunted._

_Apparently, the Knight noted, everyone noticed the dark look on his face, as J'onn asked to help him. Batman simply shook his head. He looked at each of the heroes firmly in the eyes, before landing his eyes on the Martian and the Princess in front of him. "I have to do this alone." He withdrew his grapple, and fired it to the ceiling, carrying himself to a catwalk a few stories up, and disappearing down the corridor._

_The other heroes began to file over to the computer room, as Diana took one last look at the hallway Batman vanished down. J'onn walked over and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. Without even probing for a discussion, Diana simply said, "I somehow get the feeling that…this is the last time I'll see this Batman, ever again."_

_J'onn nodded. "I think we'll all be changed after this ordeal," he responded. "But that doesn't mean we shouldn't fight on. We have to believe in him, and have his faith in us be rewarded, by rescuing Hawkgirl from her confinement." Diana smiled softly to him, nodding in agreement, and the two walked into the makeshift Monitor Room, watching Flash search for the hospital they'd keep Hawkgirl in._

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Batman sighed, as he approached the computer to the portal, overlooking its mechanisms, though his mind was relayed back to that last meeting. It's not that he didn't want the help J'onn and the others would have offered him, but that he would undoubtedly meet Lord Batman, in a battle that would take its toll on him physically, and, most likely, emotionally. He didn't wish to be seen in the weakened state he would undoubtedly be in, once the battle ended, in case he needed to come up with something unconventional to win. There was also the distinct possibility that he could lose…

He didn't want to think about the ramifications if that should happen. However, it was a challenge he wanted to face on his own; needed to face on his own. Any outside help would just interfere with the result, and, besides, he had to know…

"It doesn't look too difficult to figure out," the Crusader muttered to himself, turning towards the portal, itself. He began to advance on it, when he heard a whistling sound behind him. 'Right on schedule.'

Before the Bat could react, the Lord's Batarang had pinned his cloak to the portal. He ripped his cloak free from the Batarang's hold, and was met with a punch to the face by his counterpart. Batman flew backwards off the landing, and onto the floor, but prepared himself for the Lord's most probable next maneuver.

Batman read him like an open book, taking his two feet, and placing them into the Lord's abdomen, rolling backward to flip the opposing Knight over him. The Lord took the attack, landing awkwardly on the upper part of his back, but if it harmed him, he didn't show it, rolling to his feet. The Leaguer charged towards the fallen warrior, both performing a mix of martial arts moves on each other, with neither able to give way to the other. A few moments went by, as both tried to attack each other cleanly, when Batman figured he had lulled his counterpart into a pattern, he decided to go for a straight punch to the face.

The Lord had already planned that move, as well. He easily deflected it to the side, and launched a fist of his own, this one connecting with his target's visage. Batman exhaled a grunt in pain, as he dropped off the edge of the landing, onto a smaller plateau below. Batman held his head, as it began to throb furiously. He reached down for his grapple, as the Lord walked to the end of the cliff, glaring daggers at him. "I knew you'd come here," he stated harshly, "just like I know you'll…" he paused as the hero fired his grapple over the man's shoulder. The Lord dodged it, and the incoming projectile of the Bat's body, finishing his previous statement, "Do that."

Batman disappeared into the darkness, as an evil grin grew upon the face of the Lord for a small moment. "What are you hiding for?"

'Ah, now come the mind games,' the Leaguer realized. He glanced over a ledge at the Lord, who was looking directly at his position, but wasn't advancing in his general direction, keeping out of the range of a Batarang. "I do my best work in the dark," he replied.

"I used to think that, too," the Lord explained. "But what have you ever accomplished from there? Aside from scaring a few punks half to death, and putting a few more in jail." His grin faded into a scowl. 'You're not living life the way we should.'

Batman frowned. "It all adds up," he retorted. 'I'm keeping the streets of Gotham safe. It's what _they_ would have wanted.'

The Lord's face soon contorted into what could only be defined as pure, unadulterated rage. "Not fast enough," he growled darkly. 'You're obviously not understanding what I'm saying.' The chilling frown vanished, replace by the basic Bat-scowl. "If you really want to make a difference…if you want to change the system, instead of just patching it, you can't be subtle." He continued his pacing, searching for where the voice of the Leaguer was originating from. "You've got to step into the sunlight. Take over…like we did."

Batman shook his head in confusion. What was he getting at? "Why would you want to change the system?" The silently moved from his position, as the Lord closed in on his location. 'Why don't you tell me directly, instead of remarking in riddles?'

"You don't understand!?" the Lord howled. "Then let me explain it to you. How many demons are you haunted by, each and every night?" The Dark Knight cocked an eyebrow from his position. "Don't wish to say? I see. You've gotten so used to the dark, it's not that you use it as a weapon any more, but a shield. A shield, hoping that those you are close to won't realize how many mistakes you've made, or see the number of ghosts following you every night!"

"So, you stepped out into the sunlight, and decided to leave the promise we made unfulfilled?" the Leaguer sneered. "Quaint."

The Lord laughed loudly, but the sharpness of the laugh caused the Crusader to shudder involuntarily. "No," he stated, "I went into the sunlight, for everyone to see my ghosts. Then I beat them back to hell, where they belong, and made it so nothing could ever affect me that way, again. I showed the people just what can happen if you let society run amok, and then demonstrated how much better it is if someone regulates it so."

"You're twisted," the Knight coldly answered. 'I can't believe you were able to fall this far.'

The Lord seemed unfazed. "Maybe. But if that is necessary to make the world a safer place, then that one man's sacrifice is worth it." Batman had the sudden feeling that the Lord knew exactly where he was, and was just toying with him, making him listen. "Isn't that what we tell ourselves, every time we thought someone was getting to close to us to stray us to far from the path we chose?"

"Everyone's happiness comes before ours, no matter the cost," Batman reiterated, hastily finding another perch to watch from. "But you haven't given these people happiness. You've just told them that they are happy, and remove those from society who don't listen." He stalled and saw the Lord looking in the opposite direction. 'You've become the very thing we swore to fight against.'

"If you think that, prove me wrong!" the Lord declared, advancing into a small opening, his head on a swivel. "Come out from behind your shield, and show that your way is best." He followed the path, which inched ever closer to Batman's position. 'If you're right, defeat me.'

"Might doesn't make right," The Knight savagely answered. "If it did, there'd be no need for government, because everyone would follow the strongest warriors in existence." Batman's frown got even darker. 'We have to set an example to others, and show that the strong ones are those who protect the weak, not rule them.'

"Then you've already contradicted yourself!" the Lord answered, as Batman finally lost track of his position. "How many children desire to become someone like Superman or Wonder Woman, or even yourself!? If everyone becomes 'strong', what's there left to protect? We have to let everyone know that crime fighting is not something they should worry about, or they might end up taking matters into their own hands." He could hear the dark chuckling of his opponent echo throughout the Batcave. 'Like Andrea Beaumont.'

The blow struck harder than any physical strike could have done to him, even a punch from Superman. "Do not bring her into this…" He withdrew a Batarang from his belt.

"Why? Because you still feel that you could have saved her?" the Lord wondered. "Or is she another of your demons that follows you around endlessly? You think you know everything, and yet, somehow, people like her still slip through your fingers. Or is it because you feel that, somehow, you had a part in corrupting her?"

Batman had heard enough, lunging at the Lord with a battle cry, and attempted to slice the individuals throat. When he realized just what he anted to do, he moved his weapon to the side, missing completely. The Lord grinned viciously at the Leaguer, and kicked him in the ribs, dislodging the Batarang from his grasp. Batman withdrew his grapple, and fired it to the ceiling, disappearing from view, once again.

"The truth hurts, doesn't it?" he asked, as Batman attempted to regain his breath, which the kick had taken from him. "Face it. Every time we come into contact with someone, it ends up hurting them. Maybe not physically, but psychologically. Just look at how much Diana has changed since coming here from Themyscira."

Batman's scowl deepened. "I said to leave them out of this."

"You don't think we had a hand in that?" the Lord continued, unrelenting. "Soon, even someone as pure as her might fall into the darkness. Do you really think as much as she cares for us, that it can't happen?"

"ENOUGH!!!" the Leaguer roared, leaping out into the open again. This time, the bloodlust had fully overtaken the Knight, and he wrapped his hands around the throat of the Lord Batman. The mouth of the hero had contorted itself with a rage that only the Lord could have deemed possible, and grinned at the hero.

Batman gasped slightly when he finally regained control, and loosened his hold. It was enough so the Lord could breath, and swung both of his legs up to hit the hero in the chest. The Bat was knocked back, but saw the Lord begin to launch a punch with his fist. He dodged it, and nailed a punch on the Lord's jaw, himself. The fallen hero bounced off the wall and proceeded to drive his shoulder into the abdomen of the Crusader, launching him away from the combat.

The Lord raced forward a few steps, but the Knight had already disappeared again. "Good," he acknowledged. "You're starting to catch onto my patterns of attack, and letting your anger control your reasoning." The echo of the harsh breathing of the Bat was the only response. 'So…you do realize that you're enemies aren't just the poison in society, but you are, as well.'

The Batman became desperate, withdrawing another Batarang as a makeshift dagger. The Lord continued, "But, think about what we have done with that poison, here. I have healed myself and removed the others from society, thereby eliminating any foreseeable problems. Think about it…a world where there's no crime…no victims…no pain." The last seemed forced out, because it was hoarse, almost like he had been crying.

Batman calmed himself down, slowing his breathing so he could keep it quiet, but the hairs on the back of his neck still stood upright, and the sweat mixed with blood dripping from his forehead didn't stop. "And no choice," he hollowly finished. Suddenly, his sixth sense flashed off a warning, telling him to turn around. He did it just in time to see the Lord had already sprung at him. Batman stumbled to the side, and slashed at him with his blade, cutting the Lord on his arm, who grunted in pain and flew past him. Batman to the opportunity to find another place to hide. "If there's no choice, then the people have no happiness, nothing to look forward to. They just follow the same pattern as everyone else, conforming and not thinking for themselves. Who elected you to be their god, anyway!?"

"Who elected you!?" the Lord responded, though where Batman's voice sounded harsh and extremely annoyed, his voice sounded glad, confident, and unwavering. "Everyone may have to follow the same path, but this way there won't be any crime or meaningless battles, because the weak obtain weapons and feel the need to prove themselves to the strong. That's wherein the problem with democracy lies. It doesn't keep you very safe. You, of all people, should know that."

Batman felt the rage boiling up within him, but satisfaction began to rise up along with it. The Lord's voice was getting louder. This time, he could have the surprise attack on his opponent, rather than vice versa. "It has other virtues. Such as liberty and life. The ability to allow people to choose what they want to do with their lives. Even God allows the freedom of choice. We've never allowed someone to control us, like this. Why would you decide to make decisions for others and act like gods, ourselves? You seem to have forgotten those ideals."

The Lord's cold laugh reverberated throughout the cave, dislodging a contingent of bats from their perches, who decided to flee, rather than watch the ongoing battle. "I didn't forget," he corrected, "I just chose peace and security, instead."

"You only did what other totalitarian regimes have done, under that guise!" Batman could hear him clearly, now. He knelt down near a large crack in the floor, and saw the Lord walking underneath him. The Knight swiftly, silently, lowered himself to a ridge just above the Lord, who had walked past him, seemingly unable to notice the Dark Knight above him. "You grabbed power!"

"I won't deny it," the Lord admitted. Batman smirked at this, he crept up to the edge of the cliff, looking down of the Lord Batman, and prepped his Batarang. "But with that power, we've made a world where no eight-year-old boy will _**EVER**_ lose his parents, because of some punk with a gun!"

Batman's face fell, his entire body went numb, and he felt incredibly sick. He had just been given the lowest of attacks, and the Lord knew it. However, Batman would not…could not…counter it. He hadn't the ability to do so. His brain was telling him to unleash the projectile from his grasp…that he could win this battle, but his limbs wouldn't respond to his commands.

The grip on his boomerang released, and it dropped off the cliff in front of him, clanging down behind the Lord. The opposing Batman whirled around, Batarang at the ready when he heard the noise. No…maybe the man knew where the Knight was all along. It didn't matter. The Lord looked at the object, making sure it wasn't a trick, a primed explosive. Satisfied that it wasn't, he looked up at the Dark Knight standing on the ridge with an emotion Batman couldn't place. Pity? Sorrow? Gratitude?

The Crusader's limbs still wouldn't respond, just dropping to his side, as he glared at the figure, who now had the upper hand. His brow furrowed in both anger and sadness, his jaw nearly trembling from the psychological backstab he had just received, before he let the hardest phrase he'd ever have to say come tumbling out of his mouth.

"You win."

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

_The two Batmen stood by the surveillance computer, as an alarm went off on the upper left hand corner of the computer. The Lord pressed a button, showing a camera where the trouble was. "Your friends are tearing up Arkham," he announced._

_He heard footsteps behind him and turned to find the Leaguer already heading for the Batmobile. "Then shouldn't we stop them?" he questioned, seeing the Lord stare at him inquisitively._

_The two Batmen sat in the vehicle, driving down the street. The Lord Batman kept his eye upon the Leaguer, as he was reading the street signs, as if he didn't know exactly where he was going. "What's wrong?" he asked him._

_"I can't believe this is Gotham…" Batman gaped. "Where's the litter?"_

_Lord Batman glanced over at him. "If you want respect for the major laws, you have to enforce the small ones."_

_The Lord Batman kept his gaze out the window, when suddenly, it seemed like everything started to slow down. He turned his gaze over to the hero, who kept his eyes out on the road. The vehicle then slowed to a stop._

_"What are you doing?" Batman questioned._

_Batman cocked an eyebrow at his counterpart, giving a look of mock surprise. "The small laws, remember?" he stated, matter-of-factly._

_The Lord Batman's brow furrowed in annoyance at his mockery of his opinions and the law, but chose not to grace him with a reply. He turned his eyes forward on the road, when he heard something outside of the vehicle. His head swiveled over to the commotion, where an elderly-looking man in khakis and a blue sweat coat was arguing with a waiter at an outdoor restaurant._

_"I'm not paying for this!" the customer growled. "Bad food, lousy service, and then you add up the check wrong!? Give me a break!!" _

_The waiter grinned smugly at him, and whispered, "Sir, you're disturbing the other customers."_

_"What!?" the man roared. "Look! Five and five make FIFTEEN!?" Unbeknownst to the man, a van with a police insignia had pulled up on the side of the road. The door to the van slid open, and two MPs walked out, one bearing a set of handcuffs._

_The one without the cuffs placed his hand on the man's shoulder. "Could you come with us, please?"_

_"Get your hands offa…" He cut himself off with a gasp when he felt one of the cuffs click into place on his wrist, and saw the SWAT members. "Wait, I didn't mean it! I'm sorry!"_

_The policemen would hear none of the mans pleas for an apology and a second chance, as they led him into the armored van. The Lord Batman kept his gaze firm, but was somewhat appalled at what he saw just took place._

_Batman sensed this moment of weakness, and took his chance. "They'd love it here, don't you think?"_

_The Lord Knight turned his gaze towards his black-caped driver. "Who?"_

_"Mom and Dad," he replied. His eyes furrowed. "They'd be _so_ proud of you," he sarcastically added._

_The Lord Batman knew that it was low, and he knew that it was delivered because of the statement he made at the end of their fight. But like that statement, the knowledge of it's reasoning didn't stop it from hitting hard and deep. He turned his face forward, his eyes narrowed darkly, and replied, coldly, "Just drive." Almost instantly, the light turned green, and the duo sped off towards Arkham._

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Batman knew it would happen, even though he tried everything he could think of to prevent it. He couldn't find it within him to blame Lantern. If he had been in the same position, he didn't know if he could shoot a decisive blow on the one he cared for most, even if it was actually someone else. Besides, berating him about it at this juncture would do little to solve the matter at hand

However, that didn't make the situation any less problematic, now that the Justice Lords were freed from the electricity-filled cage. The Lord Hawkgirl had launched her mace at the console that controlled the voltage to the room and destroyed it, before the Crusader could do anything about it.

Lantern, to his credit, finally regained his bearings. These were the ones who injured his Hawkgirl, in the first place. He fired multiple shots at the Thanagarian, finally able to clip its wings with a glancing shot. The momentum from her flight took her straight into the wall and knocked the wind out of her.

She rebounded off the wall, attempting to get back into flight, but was unable to do so. J'onn lowered himself to her, and attempted to restrain her, so that she wouldn't be able to fight back when she did recover her wits, but suddenly heard a loud growl of an ancient Martian serpent. He whirled around, and saw the beast charge at him, though he knew that the Lord Martian must have changed itself. He, too, turned himself into a massive serpent, though his opponent had four arms while J'onn only amassed two. The creatures rose up and crashed into the ceiling, causing a large portion of it to collapse. Batman used the height of his agility and instincts to dodge the incoming blocks, finally able to get free from the danger. He realized this was no place for him, unless one of the Lords was forced to stay on the ground. He'd wait for his chance.

Lantern then flew to the entrance, ducking to the side. He pivoted in front of the smoking doorway, but was forced back into the wall by a massive beam of a Green Lantern's ring. Stepping out into view was the Lords' Lantern, glaring venomously at the Lantern who had just made an imprint of his body within the wall. He raised his arm, and willed an energy sword into existence, and dashed towards his opponent, stabbing the saber at the former marine. Lantern closed his palms around it an inch before his head was skewered and was able to redirect the makeshift blade into the wall beside him.

The smoke had almost cleared, now, and out came the Lords' Diana. The League's Diana threw her lasso around the anti-heroine and began to swing her up towards the ceiling. The Lords' Wonder Woman, however, had already grabbed a hold of the lasso and yanked it toward her. The female Leaguer went headlong into the awaiting high heel of the Lord, knocking her back towards the ground. Diana, however, recovered in time, as the Lord grabbed her head for a second attack, the League's Amazon threw a left and then a right, knocking her opponent away.

Batman was starting to get edgy. He wanted to help his companions in their fight, as, even Flash had used his talents to distract the Lord Superman, the last of the Justice Lords to exit from their trap. It was the first time that he ever was eager to go into battle, during a crime fight. And it was one of the few times he could do nothing.

Suddenly, he heard a crash nearby, and saw the lower half of the Lord Diana disappear beneath the hole. 'Diana!' he noted mentally, and hurried over to the gaping crater. He slowly lowered himself down via his grapple, and noticed that the Lord Diana was standing over something. The lower he got, the more the silhouette underneath her came into view.

'No…!' he thought, clenching his jaw. He dropped behind the fallen heroine, and inched up behind her. When he mused that he was close enough for an attack, he leapt at her, preparing to strike several pressure points to knock her unconscious.

If only it were that easy. The Lord Diana knew Batman as well as the League's Diana did, and whirled around, snatching his neck within her grasp, before he got near enough to touch her. Batman noticed that the Lords' Wonder Woman's face contorted in a ferocious rage, befitting a wild animal, at him, and could almost see unshed tears.

She launched him nearly 10 yards across the room, and he skidded a few yards more after the landing. Stunned, Batman rolled over to his side, gasping for air, and glancing at the Amazon. He saw her look back at the League's Wonder Woman with a look of something near…pity?

The Lord then picked up a massive piece of debris that fell with her and the League's Wonder Woman only minutes earlier, tossing another look that said, 'You'll thank me for this' at the Themysciran warrior, and advanced on the Dark Knight with her previous enraged gaze when she had ensnared him only a moment ago.. Batman attempted to move, but his limbs just wouldn't respond fast enough. He clenched his jaw as he watched his oncoming doom close in on him.

He then heard a whistling sound, like that of a Batarang, nearby. He cocked an eyebrow, and saw the Amazon turn a second before a gold discuss struck her square on the forehead, knocking the Amazon off her feet in a loud groan of pain. Batman rolled to his side to escape any glancing damage the falling warrior with the large rock could have done, before looking at the Amazon and nodding his gratitude.

Diana, however, was in no mood to chat, instead choosing to dash towards her target with a rage that seemed to match the Lords' when she prepared to strike the Crusader.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXX**

The Lord Batman sat at his console, switching off the camera, sighing heavily. 'It had to be done…just like Luthor's assassination, this also was necessary.' He bit his lip to stop it from trembling. 'Why is it that I'm taking this so hard? I said that the sacrifice for the happiness of the people was always worth it. So why…?'

A loud crackling of electricity echoed throughout the cave. 'Right on schedule,' he told himself. He turned to see the former heroes drop in from the dimensional portal and onto the Batcave floor, obviously still weakened from the Power Disruptor's absorption of their powers.

"Welcome back," he greeted somberly, walking up to the five Lords.

"You…!" Superman howled, standing up on sheer will and launching a punch straight to the Bat's face. The Knight's face jerked to the side slightly, but it didn't deter him, turning his face back to the furious heroes. "How could you let them come back!? We nearly had begun to cleanse their world of crime! Everything that happens will be on your head, now!!"

"It wasn't our world to tamper with," the Crusader replied, simply. He felt pity for them, but, like all of his previous decisions, even the ones as a Justice Lord, he didn't regret them. 'Correction,' he reminded himself, 'all but one.'

"Bruce, we could have restored honor to their world!" Diana insisted. "You were willing to throw that away because you felt we shouldn't have tampered with their world!? Why build that portal in the first place!?"

"Look, I realize I deserve your contempt, but now's not the time for that," he informed them harshly. The other Lords' brows furrowed at him, at which he exhaled. "Look, you guys only have a little time in here, before you have to leave."

"What do you mean…?" John Stewart wondered fiercely.

The Lord Batman turned and walked over to the computer, turning back towards his comrades. "While you were gone, as I'm sure you've figured out, I eventually allowed the Justice League to return to their own time to fight you, and, hopefully, return you here. It was the only solution…the best solution."

"What do you mean 'the best solution'?" Hawkgirl asked, her anger fading gradually into curiosity.

Batman clicked a button, and a screen came up, blocked by the Lord Batman's body. "After I returned the Justice League to their time, I had asked their Batman to return you to our dimension, should they defeat you," he stated. "Meanwhile, I was busy at work helping to 'rebuild' our world, starting with this."

He turned away from the screen, revealing the headline on the Daily Planet website: **Fall From Grace: The End of the Lords' Reign**.

The five former heroes all gaped at the headline, unable to believe what they were witnessing. Superman growled in anger. "BRUUUCE!" he roared, charging towards the Dark Knight.

This time, the Bat didn't let him punch him, instead shoving a fist just underneath the ribs of the Kryptonian, knocking the wind out of the past-hero. "Don't tempt me, Kent," he savagely whispered.

"Our world…what will happen to it…?" the reporter gasped, the man was on the verge of tears. "You'll let it run amok again…let it destroy itself…!?"

"KENT!" the Bat roared, silencing the entire cave, even the bats, seemingly. "This is necessary. How long must our occupation go on? We keep saying 'It's only temporary', but when does that 'temporary' end? When we all perish? Or were you hoping Diana could keep it going for all eternity? This had to end, eventually, whether we ended it how I'll be doing it today, or with pointless bloodshed in the future."

"We could have kept the planet safe for all time, if only you'd…" the Kryptonian insisted.

"That might have been ok for now, but our 'assistance' would only end up repeating history!" the Bat snapped. "The history full of meaningless and endless battles!" The two heroes kept their gazes firm for another moment, before the Bat raised his hand to his cowl.

Diana noted that the Dark Knight's lip had been quivering involuntarily every so often, but now she noticed that it was continuous, and hadn't stopped for some time. She suddenly realized the Dark Knight was holding something back, and it wasn't just this argument he was having with Superman.

"Kent, tell me, how many more lives must suffer before it all ends?" he asked, slowly removing his cowl from his head. Clark's eyes narrowed back at the hero, as the Bat pulled it back all the way. The Kryptonian saw the full features of the normally stoic hero. "How many more times must I disrespect the memory of my Mother and Father?" the Dark Knight hoarsely inquired, tears soundlessly streaming down his cheeks.

The hero wiped his eyes with the back of his glove, turning back to the console, placing his hands onto the computer and leaning on it. Diana slowly walked up and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder.

He placed his hand on top of hers, and took it off of his shoulder, standing tall. "I don't deserve your pity," he somberly stated, having finally composed himself.

"Wait," J'onn said, "What happens to all of us?"

Bruce grinned. "Well…" he explained in a voice so hollow, that it didn't sound at all like his own. "The government proclaimed that the superheroes have all been allowed to live out their lives, unharmed, for the rest of the lives, if they continue their lives like normal people. It shouldn't be too hard for you, considering all of you have lost your powers."

"That doesn't sound like something that they will allow so easily," John stated. "How did you manage that?"

"Ah, always the perceptive one," the son of Thomas and Martha declared. "There were several prerequisites required before you were the Lords would be set free. First, the company Wayne Enterprises would be dissolved, and its technology and assets will be distributed amongst the government aid programs. Second, the Watchtower will be disabled. "And third…" The hero gulped, turning to face his comrades, "in order for his comrades to go free, the Justice Lord Batman will take his own life."

The eyes of the other members widened and their mouths dropped in shock. "You can't agree to that!" Hawkgirl insisted.

"I already did," he told her. "I showed them a video of the battle you had with the Justice League, so they know that you had all lost their powers. But I, having no powers to lose, technically haven't lost anything. In order to rectify that, well…"

"But they would have already taken your company!! Isn't that enough!?" John inquired fiercely.

"I'm the one who told them to make that last requirement," Bruce announced. "They originally had just wanted to put me on trial, but the end result would most likely have been death row or life in prison. Instead of going out on a note like that, I decided to go out on my own terms."

"But you could have hired the best lawyers…" J'onn mentioned.

"If I had won that case, do you think the rest of you would have been spared?" Bruce questioned. "At least, this way, they have no complaints."

"Bruce…" Clark started, but was stopped by a hand on his shoulder.

"There's no more time to argue, you all have to get out of here," Bruce stated. "I'm performing both of the final requirements at once. I'm crashing the Watchtower, here, on top of the Batcave. I promised to give them any technology that could help the world, but any technology found here will only give someone the urge to do what we did again."

"But…!"

He motioned them to the portal, before keying coordinates into it. The formerly green portal now turned into a purplish-blue. He walked through it, gesturing the others to follow him. They all reappeared out in the middle of a field, still within the site of Wayne Manor, but far enough away that there was no way they could be affected by the explosion.

The heroes all walked forward, away from the portal, and turned around, facing the de-cowled but Kevlar wearing Bruce Wayne. All the anger and rage that had been on their faces had long since transformed into sorrow. Bruce smiled a genuine smile at the group. "Well…I'm not good at these kind of things, but I suppose I better say something…"

The Bat sighed heavily, and looked up, noticing a growing object in the sky. The Watchtower. "I'll start with you, J'onn," he said. "When we first met, I'll admit I didn't know what to think. But I'll honestly say that there was no one who I would confide in that I was more sure that my secret would stay safe than you."

He turned and faced the Thanagarian. "Hawkgirl, I'm sorry that I ended up betraying you by allowing the League back into their time. But, I'm sure, in a while, you'll realize it was all for the best. You were always the most open with your feelings, and it was refreshing, in a way."

He glanced over at the marine, John Stewart. "John, it's good to know that you've found someone who will honor your existence the way you honor everyone else's. It was good to have someone else in the team I could trust in to hang back and give directions, when I couldn't be there.

He moved his head over to look at Superman. "Kent…despite our differences, I have nothing but the greatest respect for you. Although you probably think that you've fallen too far to come back, think bout the fact that the only life you've ever taken was President Luthor. I think that you probably are haunted by that, even to this day."

He finally glanced over at Diana, whose eyes were shining with the first tears she had since disowning her Amazoness ways and donning her new outfit. Bruce suddenly found himself unable to say anything, as the two just gazed upon each other for an unknown amount of time. "Diana…" Bruce began. He remembered watching her battle against the League and her pained look when she snatched the other Batman by the throat. He remembered the events of his resignation from the Lords, how much it had hurt her. He remembered her despair the weeks after Flash's demise over four years ago. He lowered his head, suddenly feeling unworthy to meet her gaze. "I'm sorry…for everything."

He raised his head, before finishing. "It's been an honor." He turned and walked into the portal, which vanished after he entered, thought Diana attempted to follow him for a step, Clark placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her. The five remaining Justice Lords watched as the Watchtower slowly descended. It had deteriorated into only half of the satellite's actual size, but was still more than enough to, when it hit the ground, create a large force to obliterate the surrounding area.

The fortress touched down atop of Wayne Manor, creating an explosion with enough force to knock the five heroes off of their feet. After a few moments, the explosion subsided, though an enormous amount of dust had been kicked up.

Diana slowly crept to the edge of the crater, her site blurred by the water building up in her eyes. "Bruce…" she whispered. She dropped to her knees folding her arms across her chest, as her chest throbbed. "Bruce." she breathed again. Finally, she could no longer hold back the pain that racked her body, as tears began to stream down her cheeks. She leaned back and howled out, "BRUUUUUUUUCE!!!!"

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Batman was ferociously forced from his reverie, as he sat in the Meeting Room, with the rest of the League members discussing the recent events involving the Justice Lords. He felt his body grow heavy and go numb, as if from fatigue, and was wondering what it was he just saw. It was as if he had awoken from a nightmare, but then replayed the events of the 'dream' in his head, and realized the truth. 'That idiot…!' he angrily thought, clenching his fists.

"Batman…?" Superman's voice broke the hero's thoughts,

"What?" he said, quite a bit more venomously than he had intended. He cleared his throat when he saw the recoiling of his comrades, before restating his message, "What were you saying, Superman?"

"I was wondering what we should do with the Power Disruptor," he inquired, cocking an eyebrow in confusion at the sudden change of the hero's emotion. "Do you have any ideas?"

"I say we just destroy it," Flash stated. "Why keep something like that around, anyway?"

"We don't know what will happen, though," John stated. "All that power has been absorbed by that thing, it could create an enormous explosion."

"But we can't just leave it, and possibly allow someone else to get it!" Flash explained loudly.

"Maybe we can find a large area in space and set it to explode then?" Hawkgirl asked, her abdomen wrapped in bandages and her arm in a sling.

"We could try that," J'onn said. "We'll have to find a large enough space, though."

"I think we could find something," Superman stated, placing his hand to his chin thoughtfully. "Ok, who's got Monitor Duty, next?" Batman grunted in acknowledgement of the question. "Could you find somewhere in space to hold an explosion large enough to destroy a planet?"

"A planet!?"

"I'd rather not take any chances," Superman replied.

"Agreed," Batman nodded.

"All right, I think that's all for today," the Kryptonian noted. "I'm sure we all need a rest from…the recent events."

The members of the League slowly began to file out of the room, while Batman stood up and went to a console nearby, and typed in his combination. A compartment slid out, and he snatched the disc from it, to review anything he had missed from his daydreaming, earlier.

He turned around to exit the room, when he saw the Amazon Princess standing a few feet away from him. She was giving him a stare, but she stood slightly in the shadows, so he couldn't get a good view of her eyes, though her mouth was firm.

"You saw it, right?" she questioned, though it was more like a demand.

Batman wondered what he was talking about, but then figured the end of the Justice Lords. He nodded slightly, in response to the question. "I never thought that is how he would 'rebuild' their world," the hero replied, "but if it was the only way…"

The Amazon's mouth opened slightly, as though she was surprised at his answer. "You mean, you would do the same, if it was you?"

Batman considered her question for a moment, as she stepped closer to him. "If it was to save someone, even if it had to be all of you, I would gladly have done it," he informed the Princess.

She stepped closer again, she muttered something inaudibly. Batman raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "What did you say?" he wondered.

"I felt her pain…" she repeated quietly. "Her chest…her heart…her soul…it was like they were being ripped from her…" She was now within arms reach of him, but he still couldn't get a good look of most of her facial features, the he could feel something emanate from the female's body.

Batman swallowed hard, but kept his jaw firm. "I've always said that my happiness would be the last thing that I thought of. And that I would give my life in order to help others, if it would make them happy."

It was like a gunshot went off. He felt his head jerk to the side harshly from the slap she gave him. It definitely wasn't expected, and nearly knocked the Knight off balance. He brought his head back in line with the Amazon, but his jaw popped open slightly when he finally saw the Amazon's face which was now only a few inches from his face.

Her teeth were clenched, but it was in a way like she was holding something back. Her eyes were glistening with water, and were narrowed, in an intense combination of sorrow and anger. "And what about the people you'd leave behind!?" she howled at him. "What would you do about that!?"

Batman regarded her, but could not find an answer to her question. He remembered how he felt when he had thought that the Amazon was crushed under the weight of the missile in Gorilla City. He thought about Andrea Beaumont, and how he felt when she decided to leave him. He thought about all the times he was afraid someone else had taken the bullet in his place and froze. "I…" he whispered.

Diana's visage softened when it seemed her point had been driven home. "You're life is more precious to everyone than that, Bruce," she said, sadly. "You may sacrifice yourself for us, but how do you think we would feel if you did that? No matter how many demons one may be hiding, one's life is never worthless enough to be thrown away, like that. That's what you've taught me since I've been here." She finally allowed a few of the tears she'd been holding back to flow and did something else the Bat did not expect. She gently laid her arms around him and brought him into a hug placing her head upon his shoulder.

The hero tensed slightly, wondering how to react, before slowly slinking his arms around her in return. "I can't make I promise I may not keep…but know that I will try to not throw my life away…" the Knight said. "And that's all I can give."

Diana breathed heavily, but he felt her smile, over her shoulder. "Then that will have to be enough."

**XXXXXXXXXX**

I'm not sure I like or hate this chapter. It is long, though. oO; Definitely emotional. I hope that the…uhh…randomness wasn't too…bad. Read and review!


	8. Darkness and Light

Loosely based on _Secret Society_. Sorry, but I had no real plans on what to write for the episode, so I just wrote for a thought. I rather like how it turned out, though.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Darkness and Light**

Wonder Woman stood atop a building on a dark, rainy night. Lightning crackled and illuminated the night sky, but only added to the dreary mood that the Princess of the Amazons now felt inside of her. The wind ripped at her armor, cutting deep to the bone, and forcing an involuntary shiver from the woman. Her predicament only served to boil her anger even further, causing her to heat up, once again.

'Damn them,' Diana muttered to herself. She was upset over the fact they seemed to want to do everything their way. They were always arguing amongst themselves. Superman promoted he take the brunt of punishment, yet insisting the other members couldn't handle it. Green Lantern promoted teamwork, yet insisting they couldn't work off one another. Flash never took things seriously enough, yet insisting that this whole superhero thing was just a game. Hawkgirl always had to put her two cents in, despite it being unnecessary and unwanted. And Batman…Ohhhhh, that Batman…! He was the most infuriating one of them all. Always looking to work on his own; never wanting to side with them team. He's their financier and he doesn't even consider them comrades in arms!

What might have hurt the most was J'onn, however. He didn't trust them enough to be considered a close enough family to put forth the effort to stay together. It was a blow that seemed to clench her heart with a ferocious grip that nothing had done so to that point. J'onn's comment was the final straw, causing any remaining threads of hope to work out their differences to scatter to the winds. Moments later, the members departed without even so much as a farewell.

'Damn them all,' Diana muttered again. Hatred reverberated throughout her body. How could they just forget the League like that, after all they had been through for nearly two years? How were they able to just throw away their allegiance like that! How could they rob her of her of the family she had on Themyscira?

How could they rob her of the family she had now? The _only_ family she had now.

The Amazon felt sick to her stomach, realizing all she had lost. She turned around and fell backwards into the rock overhang against the edge of the roof. The rain had begun to pelt her face and stream down her cheeks. After a few moments, however, something warm and salty splattered on her lips. Was she…_crying_?

'Why…?' the Princess wondered. 'Why couldn't they…'

She suddenly heard a light tap of feet onto the concrete from somewhere in front of her. She didn't bother to look, knowing there were only a handful of people it could be.

The person didn't move, at first, seemingly content with watching from the distant he or she was at. After several silently moments with the only sound being the pitter-patter of raindrops, she heard something splash in front of her and advance upon her. The person stopped in front of her, but didn't leave, piquing the curiosity of the identity of the person.

When the echoes of the clock tower had ceased, the person said the last thing she had expected from anyone, least of all the person who actually said it.

"Your hair's a mess," a gruff voice stated.

Diana's head whipped up to look at the owner and gazed upon the black shadow of Batman. The Princess released a minor gasp in surprise at his sudden appearance. The shock on her face turned to a scowl at the Dark Knight. "What is it, Batman?"

Normally, she'd care how she'd look to any man, especially one who she had regarded as a friend, comrade, and someone who was something more to her, though she couldn't explain it. She had always valued his opinion the most, out of all the Leaguers. Yet, now, she couldn't care any less.

Because there was no more League.

Because his opinion no longer mattered.

Because there was nothing more between them.

"You're in my city," he commented sharply.

Diana gave a dumbfounded look, before raising her head up high enough to peer around the area. She looked up and finally noticed the clock tower she had been sitting on. It was even later than she thought. She saw multiple sky scrapers, large factories, and construction zones scattered amongst the few lights and most of the darkness. She finally saw many people that looked like ants below her, causing her to question how high up she really was.

Was she so caught up in her grief that she didn't even realized she had absentmindedly flown to Gotham?

She slowly rose to her feet, muttering something of apology, before walking past the Caped Crusader towards the other end of the tower. She prepared to fly off, before he called out to her.

"You had to have known this might have happened."

Lightning crackled in the sky, illuminating the landscape. Thunder rolled, reverberating through her body. Diana remained silent, refusing to respond to his statement.

"We came from different backgrounds, Princess," the man explained. "We came with different ideals, different values. We tried to put our differences aside, but it just didn't work."

The woman stayed still, refusing to face the man, but not yet wanting to leave. If she left, she feared that they might never have another chance.

Finally, she spoke. "Are we talking about the League…or something else, entirely?"

It was Batman's turn to remain silent.

Wonder Woman scoffed at his silence. "I figured as much."

"You know what I meant."

"I don't believe I know what you're insinuating."

She could even feel his scowl deepen behind her.

"You make it sound as though it was pointless to even try," she stated.

He didn't answer.

"Was it really all meaningless? Everything we went through?"

Silence, again.

She whirled around furiously at him. "Hera's sake, say something!"

Batman just stared at her, _through_ her, for several moments. Neither person moved, until the Dark Knight spoke.

"So, is this all you really are?"

Wonder Woman charged forward to pick him up by his neck. He moved back slightly, but she still managed to snatch his Kevlar and lift him into the air.

Even dangling in the air, held by the strongest woman on the planet, who could easily snap him in two if she so chose, the emotion of the Crusader didn't change.

"What will you do now? Take your frustration out on me? You and I both know you're better than this."

"What difference does it make? It doesn't matter how much I want to try if _you_ won't bother to make an attempt."

"Since when has someone telling you 'you can't' ever stopped you from trying? What about Gorilla City? What about Kasnia?"

"That's different. I was fighting a tangible enemy! How am I supposed to fight something as lucid as emotions and values?"

"Remind them of why they fought. Why they fight. Why they continue to fight."

Diana was silent. Her grip on the Crusader's suit had lessened, but she still had him up in the air. Slowly, she finally lowered the man to his feet. And it was only at this moment did she notice something.

The rain. It had stopped.

She looked up into the sky and noticed that the clouds had begun to break apart. Cascading down upon her was a bright full moon, bathing the city in light. It had been a scene she had never witnessed before and wondered if the gods had a hand in it.

"How did you know I was here, Bat—" she turned to face the man only to realize he had disappeared, like a shadow in sunlight. She walked near the closest edge and peered over the side. No sign of him.

'Quick, isn't he,' she mused. She turned around and flew off into the night.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

_One Month Later…_

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

Wonder Woman stood on top of a clock tower in the middle of Gotham City, taking a deep breath of air and the scenery from the glowing full moon that seemed to be lower than the norm on this night. It was nearing the morning hour. She had just gotten out of her latest fundraiser, this one for Breast Cancer Research as it was October, the month for Breast Cancer Awareness, and decided to enjoy the sights of Gotham at night, which was something she wasn't used to.

It was a different city compared to that of her current residence, Metropolis. Metropolis was a city that never slept; constantly focusing on partying and celebrating. Gotham never slept, either, but it seemed to be more of the crime and work over that of a more jovial assent. It also bore an older, more sophisticated tone to the futuristic "Get-It-All-Now" feel of Clark Kent's home.

However, Gotham City had a radiant charm, all its own, especially when bathed in the bright moonlight. It gave it a white veil that, Diana surmised, would look out of place if standing on the roof of the Daily Planet or some other skyscraper in Metropolis.

'It's completely different,' Diana reminded herself, 'in more ways than one.' She hadn't been able to take in the scenery, the last time she visited. Not only was she in a completely foul mood, that day, but the moon didn't show at all, that cold rainy night. As she slipped out of her heels and released the hair that had been in a bun, the Amazon wondered fleetingly if someone she knew ever bothered to take in this side of Gotham.

That "someone" silently appeared behind her in the form of muffled tapping of footsteps hitting thick cement. For several moments, the presence didn't move, apparently content to just stare at the Princess as she spied upon the ants that were hustling home for the night. A warm, Southern wind blew across the black dress she had donned for the charity event, tugging it gently across her legs.

She finally walked forward towards the edge of the roof, stretched her arms innocently behind her. "What is it, Batman?"

She felt the presence behind her shift uneasily and approach. 'Surely he did not think I wouldn't notice him…?' She whirled around to see the cowl of Gotham City's protector glaring daggers at her. She had gotten so used to it, however, that all she did was place her fists upon her hips and lift her lips into a smirk at him.

"You're in my city," Batman stated.

"And? I was here for a charity ball; one that _you_ had the audacity to miss, though you gave quite a large check to the organization." She proceed to gracefully bow at the waist as a thank you, though she paid careful attention to his features.

The Dark Knight failed to answer her, seemingly preferring to stay at a safe distance from her. Diana stood back upright and sighed deeply. She smiled sweetly at the young hero, leaping onto the concrete stones that marked the end of the roof. The young woman began to playfully walk back and forth on the overhang. She finally spun on her heels and faced the Dark Knight, outlined by the silver light of the moon.

Batman just stood gazing upon her silently, though Diana couldn't tell if it was from awe or something else. 'Damn that cowl,' she menacingly thought.

After several more moments of the two silently staring at each other, Batman finally decided to just turn away and headed towards the darker end of the clock tower. Diana raised an eyebrow at him, before leaping off the stones and walking after him. Batman began withdrawing his grappling hook from his belt, preparing to take off into the night.

Diana cut him off. "What is it, Batman?" she reiterated. He didn't say a word to her; didn't even look at her. Diana became somewhat annoyed at his unusual hesitance towards her. "Look, I know you. You've been avoiding me, lately. I even intentionally stayed later just because I knew you'd show up to chase me out of the city. But you don't even do that!" Nothing. No response. But he hadn't left, yet. Diana supposed that was a positive.

"What is the matter, Bruce?"

_That_ got his attention. The Caped Crusader cringed at the sound of her voice stating his real name. Although he knew she knew his identity, it was still the first time his name had ever come across her voice. He was caught at a crossroads. He had come with so many things on his mind; his budding relationship with Diana, the near-end of the Justice League, and his own uneasiness of his mortality.

And yet, with list of that and plenty more to talk to her about, once he saw her with the moon as her backdrop, he couldn't speak. He realized what he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed before.

She was on a pedestal; far above anything he could ever hope to reach.

Although some of the other League members, most notably Flash and Superman, had commented on the growing closeness of Diana and Batman, he had passed it off as their minds running away with the idea. Batman admitted he had an fascination of her, but it was similar to the admiration of Superman: they could do from the glaring Light what he could only hope to do from the cover of Darkness.

_"You've gotten so used to the dark, it's not that you use it as a weapon any more, but a shield."_ That was what the Justice Lord Batman told the Dark Knight when they entered combat, before, but only just that moment did he come to terms with it. Batman was just not good enough.

"Bruce…?" the voice inquired again.

He was knocked from his reverie and looked at the Amazon, who was now uncomfortably close to the Dark Knight, as if she was trying to peer into his lenses. Her face had a look of genuine concern etched into her features, but her closeness caused him to unconsciously lean back. What followed was an unseemly collapse of bone and skin colliding onto concrete.

The two groaned for a moment, as each wondered what exactly happened. When Batman finally was able to regain his senses, he found himself underneath the body of the Amazon, who has leaning on her hands above the Caped Crusader. Diana and Batman stayed silent, both staring at each other and focusing on the other's facial features.

A single hand, cold from the stone it was pressed against, suddenly grabbed the cowl and lifted it from his face. Every synapse in his body told him to stop her, but his body wouldn't listen. After a few moments of the two remaining still, Diana began to move again, this time moving towards the de-cowled Bruce's face.

She closed the distance to a foot.

Her eyes fluttered shut.

He could feel her warm breath on his face.

His eyes began to close.

The clock tower struck midnight.

This broke the reverie that had encased the two heroes in their own world. They hastily separated, both with extremely deep shades of red covering their cheeks.

Diana stood up, straightening her dress, coughing into her hand. She looked at the Dark Knight, sliding his cowl back over his head. The Princess folded her arms over her chest. "I'd like to know a few things." Batman busied himself by checking his equipment and dusting himself off, but didn't say anything. "What was with your appearance the last time I was here?

Batman glanced over at her. "You don't want to know." Diana cocked an eyebrow at him. He just smirked. "Well…it was the Watchtower." The Princess flashed a wide-eyed look at him. "It cost me billions. I have to get _some_ use out of it."

Diana gave the hero a slug on the right shoulder for that one.

Batman rubbed his shoulder, but didn't grimace, only keeping his smirk in view. "Too much of that strength of yours can be dangerous, Princess."

"Really?" Diana huskily replied. She sauntered over to the hero, cupping his chin with her palm. "I hear you like danger." Bruce merely cocked an eyebrow. "Alright, Rich Kid, just one more; how did you know I was here, anyway?"

The man paused for a moment, staring at her again. He turned around, placing his back to her, and turned his gaze upward into the sky. Diana gasped at how the Dark Knight had suddenly become illuminated by the veil of white from the giant white orb. "The moon."

_That_ got the Amazon's attention. "The _moon_?" she inquired, placing her fists on her hips in exasperation.

"The last time the moon was this bright, was that impromptu visit you gave Gotham City about one month ago."

Even though she knew how much of a playboy Batman could be when he wanted to, Diana still felt heat rush to her face in embarrassment. When Diana saw the face of the Dark Knight look back at her over his shoulder, she had to turn away from the light, in case the man turned around and saw the blush that was gracing her features.

"Plus, you kept your communicator on all night."

Bruce knew that he couldn't pass gaining one up on royalty, despite the throbbing arm he carried around for the next week.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

So, what do you think? I thought it was sort of corny, but cute. And I had fun writing it, which, I guess, is all that matters. Dunno if it goes with the other one-shots I'm writing, but it's amusing, all the same. R&R, if you would.


	9. Invincible

This next chapter is based on and placed shortly after the episode _Hereafter_. I'll have three more chapters after this one before I start my story _Justice League Unlimited: Beyond Eternity_. That will put this one on hiatus, as I begin to preparations for it. Read and review, if you would.

**XXXXXXXXXXXX**

**Invincible**

Above?

Behind?

Underneath?

Beside?

The wheezing of a frightened out-of-shape man reverberated throughout the corridors, as the thug hastened towards his destination. Sanctuary. With his boss.

A gust of wind causes the man to look in the darkened rafters in terror, despite not seeing anything. He knows it's only a matter of time before the man descends upon him. He rounds the corner and sees the double doors he's supposed to lead his quarry to. If he could just reach them…

Another breeze flows past the grunt, but he doesn't even pause to look. His only protection, his pistol, lay far behind him; dropped when he saw the body of one of his comrades hanging upside down next to him. He didn't even stop to check on the man's status.

Almost there, only a few more steps and he would be safe from the ghost; free from this terror.

He burst through the doors. "Joker! Joker! It's the Bat…The Bat's-" He was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot ringing through the giant room, followed by something wrapping around his legs. He felt himself dropping forward, closer to the floor, but noted that he was welcoming the rapidly approaching darkness that was the black cement that was the floor of Arkham Asylum.

A resounding crack was the last thing that echoed in his head, as his world blackened.

**XXXXXXXXXXX**

Batman sauntered into the room, lit only by the scant streams of moonlight that the dirt-marred windows allowed. He surveyed his surroundings, instantly noticing a large hole in the ceiling ahead of him, where most of the brightness gathered. Atop the rubble of stone and, what Batman prayed was, manikins sat a massive wooden chair like a throne. In the chair, arguing to a puppet that the Dark Knight ascertained was Arnold Wesker's Scarface, was the Joker.

"Why didn't you stop Batman!" squealed the Joker.

"Me!" the puppet retorted with a similar and yet completely different voice to Joker's. "It was your plan, ya goofy clown!"

Joker spat. "I'm sending you back to the Ventriloquist where you belong!" He tossed the doll away, as it skidded a few feet away from Batman. He turned his attention towards his rival, growling in annoyance. "You had to do it, didn't you?" Batman remained still, his gaze never wavering from the murderous entity in front of him. "Beating up Bane, feeding Scarecrow to Croc, slapping around Harley…" He paused for a second, leaning forward for emphasis. "…_**MY**_ hobby, by the way, and ruining all my plans!" He waved a smoking handgun in the general direction of the Caped Crusader before him. "You wouldn't even let me enforce punishment for spoiling the surprise!" He gestured at the unconscious body lying next to the Crusader.

Batman took a firm step forward. "It's over, Joker."

"Over!" the madman scoffed. "My dear, delusional Dark Knight, it has only just begun!" He gripped a hold of a lever Batman just noticed was sitting right next to the pillar the Joker was standing on and viciously pulled.

A click was followed by a much louder crash. Soon the ground began to quiver, as two massive creatures that might have once been human approached the Dark Knight. They both resembled Bane in height and stature, but the demonic green that glowed from their eyes and crowns that threatened to pierce the skin on their skulls. The two monstrosities released a bloodthirsty roar, before glancing at their prey. They greedily advanced on the Bat.

Luckily, they were more instinctual than deliberate in their approach and demeanor. Batman launched a trio of Batarangs at the one on his left, which disoriented the giant, who began swinging wildly. His enormous fist collided with the back of his compatriot's skull, throwing the beast into a fit of rage.

The two titans clashed, punching, slamming, and snarling at each other, until Batman finally had enough. He primed another pair of explosive Batarangs and launched them into the ceiling above. The resulting explosion brought cement, wood, and metal down upon the two behemoths. Joker, it seemed, was having a marvelous time, despite the fact the two monsters had been disabled.

"Excellent work, BatGuano, but the fun continues!" his chilling laughter echoed throughout the hall, as a large number of thugs leapt down from the balconies that overlooked the ground floor. The numbers seemed endless, as one after another, the Caped Crusader punched, kicked, threw, tripped, charged, slammed, and disarmed the waves of opponents. But for every one Batman seemed to incapacitate, another three took his place. The battle and occasional blows were starting to take their toll on the hero. The annoying ringing of Joker's cackling didn't make things any easier.

Finally, Batman decided to take a new approach. He launched a large number of flashbangs into the air, shielding his eyes and disabling his sound enhancers seconds before they exploded. The resounding explosion caused the rest of the people in the room to freeze and cry out in pain and confusion.

"Not funny, _Bats_!" Joker howled in anger. He had managed to close his eyes and cover his ears, but the light pierced through his eyelids, still causing his eyesight to be restricted. He blinked his eyes a few times to regain focus, before he was able to see well enough to note that the grunts that he forced into service were still fumbling around.

"Stop clowning around!" he roared. But, then he blinked again. They weren't fumbling around, they were being _knocked_ around. Or, at least, they were. Not one of them stood upright. His eyes widened, before he felt a presence appear behind him. "You…!"

He never finished his sentence, as Batman launched a fist into the sociopath's face with enough force to launch him off the platform onto the pillar he had erected with stone and manikin. He skidded to a halt at the bottom of the rubble, as the dust and soot kicked into the air. Batman, for his part, forced his increasingly erratic breathing to slow to a normal pace.

A moment later, a deep voice shouted through the hall. _'Simulation terminated'._

**XXXXXXXXXX**

The room surrounding the Dark Knight swirled and slowly became bright, lighting up every corner of the room. Soon, however, the room was unable to be discerned, as it steadily transformed into a giant metal complex, with multiple risings and corridors retracting into the walls, floor, and ceiling.

"Incredible session, Batman," the deep voice informed him, as a hologram of the Martian J'onn J'onnz appeared before the hero.

"Yeah!" the breathless voice of youth shouted excitedly. "When you ran in there and took out those thugs one by one and frightened the one dude with his buddy to chase him to Joker and just, KICK! PUNCH! KICK! PUNCH! KICK! PUNCH! BOOM! Took 'em all out like that! It was like watching a video game!" He mimicked the motions with a series punches and kicks in the air.

"Wayne Enterprises' technology never ceases to amaze me," John Stewart stated. "I almost forgot it was just a simulation!"

'So did I,' Bruce mused, but his only response was a tightened line of his lips. "Time, J'onn?"

"Twenty-nine minutes and forty-six seconds," the Martian stated.

Batman glowered. 'Slow, again…huh?' He looked at his surrounding area, before deciding. "Run the program, again."

"What!" John stammered.

"Run it again," the Dark Knight ordered. "I want to test something."

"But, Batman, you've already done it four times!" Flash protested. "I'm surprised you're even still standing!"

Batman's scowl darkened. "Run it again."

The door behind him slid open, as a pair of Justice League members stepped through. The towering physique and glimmering tiara immediately revealed it to be Superman and Wonder Woman.

Superman gave the hero a concerned look. "Batman, it's time you took a break. You don't want to tire yourself out before patrol, do you?"

Batman's glare returned. "I'm not moving until I run one more simulation."

"Alright, then, Batman," Wonder Woman stated, "you can go once more, but only after, you defeated me."

Batman's eyes widened, before a smirk appeared on his face. "You really want to try me?"

The Amazon threw her tiara at the hero suddenly. Batman dove out of the way in surprise, in order to evade the boomerang. He turned to prepare for his newest opponent, only to notice she wasn't there.

His tired senses didn't give him the necessary time to react. A soft thud slammed into the back of Batman's head. Normally, his cowl would provide enough protection to prevent such a hit to affect Batman too much, at least to the point of being knocked unconscious. However, the punch of an Amazon was never put into the equation.

His world spun around once, twice, thrice, and then he knew no more.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Batman awoke with a start and knew almost instantly where he was. He lay in his bed in Wayne Manor, his cowl and uniform removed, noting he was only in boxers. He removed the covers from his person and rose out of bed. He moved towards the closet and extracted a robe so as to not feel too naked. As he slid the sleeves on, he grabbed a nearby controller and keyed in the combination of the training room camera to the Watchtower. Silently, so as to not wake up Alfred, the camera footage of his training replayed

The smell of herbal tea and chicken soup and the sound of light footsteps preceded the opening of his bedroom door.

Luckily, Bruce had enough time to put on his robe.

Diana stepped through the opening to his personal space, humming a tune, before gasping lightly and widening her eyes at the empty bed. She had escaped the confines of her Amazoness armor and wore a nightgown of sorts made specifically for her by Alfred. He fleetingly thought about stowing away in the closet, but she beat him to the punch, turning in his direction. She motioned towards the smooth, soft, and silky set of covers and mattress on the bedframe. Bruce merely glared as she placed her hands on her hips.

Bruce, this time, was the first to speak. "You seem to like watching me sleep, Princess." His voice was sharp and cold.

Diana gave a smirk that reminded the philanthropist of his only show of amusement while underneath the cover of his cowl. "You seem to like falling in my presence, Mr. Wayne," she playfully countered.

Bruce glowered, as Diana's smirk grew. Diana, once again, patted the pillow that lay on his bed. He begrudgingly and slowly stepped towards the bed and sat down on it. She placed the tray on a table nearby and handed Bruce a cup of tea.

It was bitter but sweet at the same time.

"Alfred made it," Diana commented, as she let the cup float beneath her nostrils to claim the scent as her own. "An old British recipe, he said."

He sat in silence, letting the aroma waft into his on senses. Diana continued as he sat silently. "Tim and Barbara said they can handle patrol for the evening." Bruce kept a calm façade, but his bottom lip tightened. "Richard also said they could call upon him for assistance, if necessary."

Bruce and Diana sat in, what he deemed, an uncomfortable silence for quite a long time. Bruce felt the need he had to say something, anything, to get rid of the rising feeling of awkwardness within him.

"What is the soup for?"

She regarded him oddly. "You," she inquired suspiciously. "Don't you even know that you have the flu?"

Bruce didn't return the look she gave him, preferring to leave his eyes fixated on the floor. "That doesn't give you the right to stop my simulations," he remarked.

The sudden rigidness from the Amazon's body told Bruce if he had been wearing his Kevlar suit, she would have slugged him.

She composed herself. "You're sweating profusely all during the training," she explained matter-of-factly. "You have a temperature of 101.8. You're breathing heavily. You're reactions are slow and you couldn't even sense my presence when I flew behind you when I threw my tiara. You'll run yourself ragged, if not get yourself hurt."

"Crime doesn't take a break, Princess. Neither can I."

"What is really going on?"

He hated when she randomly changed the subject like that.

"What do you mean?"

"You've been acting different since Superman returned," she informed him.

He also hated how she could read him.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"You've been running yourself ragged," she told him. "You're avoiding the Watchtower except to train. You're even disappearing as soon as a mission is over."

"I've been busy lately."

She placed her hand on his face and directed his eyes towards hers. Her mouth had warmth in its smile, but her eyes gave away a plea for admittance to enter to his secret. Bruce was so close to giving into the plea those bright blue eyes gave, but was able to tear his gaze away.

She sighed heavily, taking another sip of her drink. "You know, you don't have to prove yourself to us. Even Superman has told me he thinks you are the most invaluable member of the team."

Bruce didn't move. She knew that wasn't it.

"You're not still upset that you thought he died, are you?"

"I never thought he died," he truthfully reminded her. She kept her gaze on him, and Bruce felt as if his heart was being pieced apart for her to look at; like his body was just one massive looking glass.

The Dark Knight finally lost his grip on his secrecy. "That day, when Superman returned and saved me from Deadshot's missile, I was painfully reminded of how fragile my life is." He waited for Diana to cut in, but continued when she remained quiet. "I know it's foolish; we're on the brink of death every time we go against any villains. Normally, my sixth sense would have noticed something like that. But, if Superman hadn't returned, then, I would've…" His voice painfully trailed off in the distance.

A warm hand lay on top of Bruce's now trembling hand on his teacup. He looked up at her to see her eyes shone with unshed tears. "You're afraid of…death…?" she sounded terrified of the last word.

Before Bruce could reply, she placed a finger over his lips. "No…" the princess sorrowfully answered for him. "You're…afraid of failure. To the team. To yourself. To me." She placed her forehead against his.

He heard muffled hiccups come from the Princess of the Amazons. "You know, I thought about what would have happened if Superman hadn't showed up then, as well," she sobbed. "That's why I hate when you do this to yourself. Shut us out. Work yourself half to death…" She slowly regained control of herself. "You're not the only one who'd feel they had failed if you died while in battle. We're not impervious to danger. No one's perfect, Bruce. But together, _we're_ perfect."

Diana finally calmed herself enough to allow the two to sit in each other's presence for a time longer. She left the meaning of her words hang in the air. Eventually, time lost itself to the two, until Bruce finally was able to note that Diana's chest had been steady in its rhythm for several long minutes. A light, happy moan escaped the Amazon's lips, causing Bruce to realize she was dead to the world.

Using his uncanny reflexes, Bruce carefully laid the Princess back and caught her gently. He slid her easily into his bed and placed the covers over her, allowing her to sleep.

'No one may be perfect, Princess,' Bruce mentioned quietly, 'but we still strive for it.'

He glanced back at the screen that was hovering above his dresser. The time on the camera showed 29:46. It was down again from the previous year.

'It's been gradual,' he noted to himself, 'but my average time has been increasing by about twenty seconds since my late twenties.' He glanced at the calendar on his wall. Upon it was a massive circle marked down by Alfred at the beginning of the year to remind him of his own birthday.

The year would mark his 37th.

**XXXXXXXXXX**

Read and review, please. Thanks.


	10. It's Cold Outside

This is something of a take on the episode _Comfort and Joy_. It's set about a week before and during the episode, then changes halfway to during the episode. I'm a little hesitant to put it out, because it shows Diana as somewhat childish, but it's supposed to show my interest in Diana's character (even as she grows and develops in the series, she still shows hints of her naïveté). It also displays both the innocent games and serious nature that I seem to have developed between the two. Also, the reason I placed Batman's age at 37 last chapter was, I'd always imagine him being slightly older compared to a human, as he'd have been fighting crime on his own for quite some time before he helped form the Justice League (my guess would be 12-15 years). Read and Review, please.

**XXXXXXXX**

**It's Cold Outside**

Bruce knew it had been quite the sight. Good thing no one had been around to witness it.

Batman and Wonder Woman were on an expedition to the North in an effort to discover the temperature increases of the Northern part of Canada and the Arctic. The readings had been eerily similar to when Orm had used the Doomsday Thermal Reactor in one of the Justice League's first missions together, which called upon the response of the League. However, no signs of the reactor, or any other nuclear activity for that matter, seemed to be occurring. But that didn't mean nothing was happening in the North Pole.

Batman volunteered to go on the mission. Bruce Wayne was supposed to be on a ski trip, anyway and it would give him a reason to do something outside of Gotham. Superman insisted he bring back-up and sent Diana along with him. Batman didn't let the flash of amusement across the Kryptonians face escape his gaze, but he said nothing. In reality, what could he say? Diana had already agreed, the mission was League business, and he might have needed the extra muscle.

The rising temperatures had also increased the danger of coinciding avalanches and there were many small villages and nomadic tribes around the area. Batman knew that there was no way he could stop one, himself. Diana would, at the very least, give him the extra speed and power to extract the people to safety.

So, it went, Diana and Batman, using the Javelin to travel to the cold north on an expeditionary and reconnaissance mission. The wind had been terrible. Batman had his suit, which helped to keep his body temperature regulated in heat or cold. Diana's armor, however, would do little against the blizzard conditions. Her shivering almost from the moment they stepped off the Javelin made this more than apparent.

Luckily for the Princess, she had become one of the most renowned League members. The first village they went to provided her with a parka that covered her body from head to about her knees. Batman had to use all of his will power to keep from laughing, something he hardly ever had to do unless he willingly allowed himself to laugh. His greatest tactic was not looking at her, whatsoever.

Hard to do when she was typically the only other human to interact with.

The Amazon noticing him avoiding her didn't help.

"What's so funny?" He didn't know, nor ever bothered to figure out, how the two had such chemistry that they would know each other's thoughts so easily. Most of the others would assume he was being himself.

She was hardly 'most of the others'.

"You in a parka," he said, dryly.

She folded her arms in response. "You're jealous. You want one, too?"

Both knew the folly in her query. As Bruce Wayne, Batman had probably six different parkas that looked exactly like the one she had, all specifically designed to fit his physique. He just raised an eyebrow at her, but that was all the time he had, before she wrapped the coat around him, throwing the hood on top of her colleague's cowl. Before Batman had any time to throw off the cloth, the sound of a snapshot of a camera entered the Dark Knight's ears.

The Caped Crusader threw off the heavy clothing, glowering at the Princess. However, Diana's crisp laughter rang aloud throughout the area. It surrounded and enveloped the Dark Knight, dissipating any ill will he was trying to wish on the Amazon.

That didn't mean, however, he wouldn't exact revenge.

A moment later, after Diana's laughter subsided, she noticed that she was alone. She turned around, holding the coat in her arms, looking to see where her fellow Justice League member had vanished to. She looked at the spot where he had been. Though there was an imprint in the spot he had been kneeling in, there were no imprints to show steps indicating the direction he went. Either he was able to cover his trail, or the heavy snowflakes had done so, already.

"Batman?" she asked. No response. "Batman, where are you?" Nothing but the wind. "This isn't funny!"

There was a response, this time. In the form of a cold, wet explosion on the back of her head.

She whirled around behind her to see where the projectile had originated from, but didn't see anything but white. 'How does a person who wears all black and gray disappear in pure white!' she wondered in amazement and annoyance.

She was interrupted by the sound of whistling from another airborne object. She effortlessly deflected the mound of snow with a chop from her hand. However, it was only a distraction, as a third ball of snow flew at her from behind. She had barely enough time to cover her head with the parka she held, but the force knocked her off balance and into the snow.

She was embarrassed, bemused, annoyed, confused, and covered in water crystals.

Despite her growing frustration, Diana suddenly began to laugh. Hard.

"What's so funny, Princess?" a low voice echoed from nowhere.

She slowly picked herself up from the ground, sliding back into her coat. "An Amazon from an ancient, forgotten island and a Bat that sticks to darkness and caves are having a snowball fight." She fought to breathe through her mirth. "And you are asking me 'what's so funny'?"

The retort came in another barrage of three snowballs. One she dodged, while the other two collided with back and right shoulder.

"This isn't fair, Bruce!" she suddenly called out in amusement. Silence followed for a moment. Then she heard some sliding along the ground, and saw a small group of four snowballs roll towards her. She picked one up and turned it over, inspecting it as if she had never seen one.

"First snowball fight?" the low tone of her colleague called.

Diana was about to answer, when she saw something that nearly made her fall backwards in entertainment.

Expertly, Batman had begun to rise into view. However, he hadn't descended from above or leapt out from some shadows. He had come straight from underneath her. It wasn't every day you saw such a side of the Dark Knight like this one, covered in snow, but looking as serious as ever. Diana was able to keep herself from meeting the snow, once again, but she couldn't keep her glee from escaping.

The Princess had finally composed herself, and looked upon her companion. His serious glare turned into a smirk, before his quick reflexes revealed his arm from beneath his cloak to launch a wet projectile towards her.

The Amazon squealed in surprise, protecting herself as the snowy missile exploded on her jacket. She quickly reached down, snatching one of the snowballs that had appeared earlier and threw one back at the Caped Crusader. It shattered upon his cloak, which he threw back to expose that he had several more of the icy objects in his left arm.

Back and forth the two went for what seemed like an eternity, creating snowballs and launching them at their adversary, the only pause occurring when they had to regroup for more ammunition. They used the snowbanks as makeshift forts for cover. Diana even thought she saw the Batman smile. Not the smirk of arrogance resembling Batman. Not the playboy grin of Bruce Wayne. A simple pleasant smile that could only belong to Bruce.

Diana melted at the sight.

She was reawakened by a stinging wet coldness to her cheek.

Diana tumbled backwards from the impact, feigning injury, and laid on the cold moisture below her. Bruce suddenly cocked a worried eyebrow, racing towards her. "Diana!" He knelt down beside her as he reached her.

It was then he realized his mistake. The Princess, grinning at him brilliantly, grabbed the Kevlar suit and launched him into the snow mound next to her. He stood up from the ground, covered in fluffy whiteness, as she expressed her happiness almost to the point of tears.

Batman sat up in the snow, as Diana collected herself and contentedly remain where she lay for a time being, nothing but the soft wind and snow making a sound. They stayed still, looking out into the distant landscape.

"These last two years…" Diana finally spoke, "…it feels like all of this has been a dream."

Bruce turned his head towards her, giving the Amazon the soft smile she had assumed she imagined earlier. He turned his head back towards the horizon. The Princess then noticed forlorn look gracing his features, before he lifted himself up off the ground.

"C'mon," he said, hoisting the Amazon to her feet. "Let's see if the sensors on the Javelin picked up anything."

**XXXXXXXXX**

"You're saying you've _never_ celebrated Christmas!" a flabbergasted Flash shouted.

Diana shook her head, suddenly feeling quite embarrassed. She began filtering through the pile of movies the red-costumed hero had appeared with only moments earlier. Flash gaped at her, slapped himself in the face, and then continued. "What about last year!" he questioned. "You've been here for over a year and a half! What were you doing last year?"

"December 25th?" she stammered. She thought for a moment, before she realized where she was. "I believe I was resting in the Watchtower. It was just after we…fought Felix Faust." Her voice had paused at the last.

Flash's eyes widened in realization, before softening into sorrow. It was only a short while before last year's holiday season that she had returned to her homeland of Themyscira and her mother only to be exiled. It took her nearly a month to completely recover, though she still went on missions during brooding. "Aww, I'm sorry, Di," he apologized, truthfully. "I didn't mean…"

Diana smiled warmly in silent gratitude. "I do remember a few of you talking about something involving turkeys, family, and football at some point, last year around this time," she mentioned, placing a finger on her chin thoughtfully.

Flash, eager to change the subject from the unhappy memory, rapidly shook his head. "No, no, no, no, no! That was _Thanksgiving_! Christmas is about snow and big, tall, green trees covered in lights and colorful presents under the tree and Santa Claus in a big red suit and reindeer led by Rudolph and...and…and…" The speedster's tongue finally got ahead of his brain.

Diana began giggling at the young hero. "It sounds like a fascinating holiday."

"Oh. It _is_," he emphatically stated. He folded his arms in mock defiance at her, causing the heroine to start giggling again. "But it's true! Even Batman loves the holidays!" He looked over his shoulder at the Caped Crusader at the Monitor. Batman returned the red-head's gaze with a look of bemusement.

Flash regarded him with a slight concern, but decided to press forward. "What did you do last Christmas, Bats?"

"Monitor Duty," he shortly stated.

"_Monitor_ Duty!" Flash questioned. "I can't believe you'd even miss the one holiday of the year focused on family, presents, snow, joy, and good will!" Batman flashed him another devastating glare, causing Flash to duck behind Diana with lightning speed.

She placed her fists on her hips, attempting to hide her amusement at their interaction. 'You really shouldn't do that to your teammates, you know,' her body informed him. He just gave her an arrogant smirk in response.

An alarm suddenly flashed on the screen. "A distress signal…!" Diana exclaimed.

Flash and the Amazon hurried over to the computer. "Where's it coming from?"

Batman read the coordinates, his eyes widening in surprise. "It's on the outskirts of the Solar System…!" He punched in the comm link for their de facto leader. "Superman, I need you to assemble a team!"

**XXXXXXXXX**

Diana had retired to her quarters on the space station shortly after the completion of Superman and his team's mission, quickly watching the movies that Flash had left on the table. She wanted to understand this "Christmas" a little more.

She learned a lot about a jolly man in a big red suit named, as Flash had said, Santa Claus, who delivered presents to kids all over the world using eight tiny reindeer, led by one with a giant glowing red nose. She also learned about joy and good will that Flash had mentioned. Some of the shows that had been saved onto the DVR also showed commercials involving a season of love between couples, and parents and children. She also noticed how many of them talked about sales and new products.

Some of the movies and specials were sad. Some were cheerful. Her favorite one, however, had to have been _How the Grinch Stole Christmas_. She laughed and cried nearly all the way through, but it also touched her deeply. The best part of the movie was when Cindy Lou Who returned to the Grinch and helped to encourage him at the end of the movie.

It was at that point when Diana got an idea; a spectacular idea. The Princess got a wonderful, _awful_ idea. Her lips curled up into a slightly devious smirk, as she prepared for her surprise.

**XXXXXXXXX**

Batman sat in the Monitor Womb, filtering through the satellite images on the screen, mentally noting how quiet it was. He knew it was normally silent on Christmas, but his one spat with the Joker in Gotham early on in Batman's career made it clear to the Dark Knight that crime never took a break. He knew the others would be too preoccupied to react, worrying about their own families and traditions, so he figured he'd always focus on keeping an eye out for trouble.

Besides, he already had what had become his favorite Christmas movie, for which he had Dick Grayson, prepared on a program off to one side. He remembered how his parents always tried to get him to watch it with them, but he always fought his way out of it, most normally feigning sleep. After Dick forced him to watch it, he had grown slightly attached to it, particularly because he felt closer to his parents.

The door to the Womb slid open. Batman expected an attempt at espionage from the Amazon, but was surprised to hear her singing a tune he recognized as _Where Are You, Christmas_. He whirled the chair around to look upon her fully. The sight made him nearly fall out of his chair.

Diana was dressed in full Holiday regalia. She wore a silk red Santa hat trimmed with fluffy white cotton. Adorned her head was a headband with antlers along with a big red glowing nose covering her own. She wore a red sleeping gown bearing Christmas trees, presents, snowflakes, and stars. She carried with her two cups of hot chocolate and a bag of marshmallows.

"You're dressed for the season," Batman said flatly.

"Isn't it wonderful?" The Princess set the tray of drinks down as she stretched and spun around in a cheerful manner. Batman merely cocked an eyebrow at her. "Oh, c'mon, stop looking like that." His mouth twitched. "Flash is right, you _are_ a Grinch."

Batman smirked. "And you seem quite childish at times." She frowned at him. "I see you've been hoarding Flash's stash of videos."

Diana sat in a chair next to her friend. "We never had holidays like this one on Themyscira," she explained, leaning back. "It's a different kind of feeling with this one. It's cheerful and happy, even in a lot of the commercials. Everyone seems to be a lot nicer and warmer to each other, too."

"You never tried to be kind to each other on Themyscira?" Batman questioned, turning back to the Monitor.

"Unless you consider the wrestling matches for training we regularly participated in." Batman couldn't hold down a grin at her statement. Diana realized why he was smiling. "Pig."

"You wouldn't have said that to Flash," he stated flatly.

"Why didn't you go home, anyway?"

"I typically have my celebration over the weekend either before or after, because of my work."

"Oh." Batman noticed she sounded mildly downcast. She picked up her head and noticed one of the screens. "What's that?"

She pointed at the screen off to the side with the program Batman had on hold. "You haven't watched this movie? It's a classic." She shook her head. "Figures Flash wouldn't have this one."

"What is it?"

"_It's a Wonderful Life_," Batman explained. "It's about how much of a difference one man can make to a city."

Diana glanced over at him in her peripheral vision with a smirk. "Sounds familiar."

"He loses faith in himself, and ends up wishing he was never born." The Amazon turned full on toward him with a look of disbelief. "It's an amazing gift he's given, to see the world as if he were not there." Diana eyed him dubiously. "You'd have to watch the movie."

It was a question as much as a statement. Her brow furrowed, but slowly she nodded.

The two shared the hot chocolate she had made, Diana using the marshmallows while Batman drinking it plain. The two spent the next few hours watching the story of George Bailey, who, it had seemed, life had dealt a poor hand. A partial hearing problem, a death in the family, several risks of having his family business close down, and an accident that created a warrant for his arrest all drove George Bailey to the point of believing he was worth more dead than alive.

But a guardian angel, a foreign idea to the Princess, helped George get back on his feet and help him realize just how important his life was. More than once Diana had to fight back tears of anguish, only to release tears of joy at the end of the film. It was at that point that she realized she was quite close to Batman. He didn't make notice of this, thought she was certain he did.

"Bruce?" she said wearily.

The Dark Knight tensed at the mention of his real name. She didn't know if was because she had _said_ his name or because _she_ had said his name. He acknowledged her. Diana noticed they were so very close, now. She reached up and touched his cheek with her hand.

"Do you think we'll always be like this? Hawkgirl and Lantern and Superman and J'onn and Flash and…" she looked for the right word, before settling on, "…_us_?"

The Caped Crusader was silent for a moment, contemplating what she said. "It's…difficult," he whispered. She was slightly perplexed but didn't show it to him. Batman did notice her eyes seemed to ask 'Why', so he continued.

"Time is a fragile thing, Princess. It comes upon us slowly, but it leaves us so quickly. Without question. Without recognition. Without remorse. One second is all it takes for a life to change." The howling wind, clattering pearls, and dripping blood came to his mind. "That's why you must cherish the things you hold, now. Because that dream you once lived; it can be shattered in an instant."

Diana's glittering eyes conveyed with a wealth of emotion.

Despair and joy.

Confusion and understanding.

Regret and content.

Gentleness and strength.

Her hands, both pure and loving, reached up for his cowl, grasping it firmly. She slowly slid the mask back, revealing the philanthropist's face. "No…" she breathed as she leaned towards his face. "No more masks…no more pretending...Just…"

She pressed her lips onto his. He melded into her.

'…Bruce and Diana.'

**XXXXXXXX**

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